LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



SCRIPTURE EMBLEMS 



OF 



GOD'S PEOPLE 



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BT 

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REV. T- E- sp>ii:4is^.A.isr. 



\V-, 1879. /.<*, 



1879. 



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,51 



Enterei according to Act of Congress, in the year IS", 9, by 

REV. T. E. SPILMAN, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Wasbiugton, 
District of Columbia. 



PEEFACE. 



The Scriptures abound with illustration. 
Natural things are chosen to represent spirit- 
ual things. The things which are not seen are 
compared with things which are seen, and in 
this way we gain a knowledge of divine things. 
When God is called a ''Father," we obtain 
some idea of his kindness and the care he 
exercises over his people. When Christ is 
(tailed a ''door," we are taught that by him 
we must enter into life. When man's daj^s 
are said to be "as 2:rass," we are tau2:ht the 
brevity of human life. ^ 

In the foUowino' pao-es we have endeavored 
to unfold and apply some of those passages 
in which figures of speech are used to repre- 
sent God's People. These passages teach us 
something- of the misvsion and the privilege of 
the Church of Christ. They teach us how 
"to glorify God and to enjoy him for ever." 

That these pages may help some of God's 
people to see more clearly the duties of their 
high calling,cheer and encourage them in their 
work for the Master, and lead them into high- 
er and sweeter contemplation of divine things 
is the prayer of their servant. 



CONTENTS. 



God's people as Saxt 5 

God's people a Light 21 

God's people a Husbandry 37 

God's people a Building 53 

God's people a Temple G9 

God's people as Branches of a V'ine. 85 

God's people as Sheep 101 

God's people a Fa3iily 117 

God's people the Body of Chkist. . . 133 

God's people the Bride of Chkist. . . 149 



SCRIPTURE EMBLEMS 

OF 

GOD'S PEOPLE. 

CHAPTER I. 

god's people as salt. 
Ye are the salt of the earth. Mat, 5 : 23. 

It is plainly taught in the word of God that 
a man, redeemed by the blood of Christ and 
made an heir of everlasting life, has something 
more to do than merely to take care of him- 
self, something more to do, even, than to takd 
care of his own soul. 

It is according to the spirit of gospel re* 
ligion that those who have experienced the 
power of pardoning blood and sanctifying 
grace should be interested in bringing a per- 
ishing world into the same happy experience. 
The Tsalmist said: *'0 taste and see that the 
Lord is good/' 

When the apostle Paul was arrested in his 

mad career and brought to a saving knowledge 

of Christ he did not sit down the remainder of 

his life and shout hallelujahs of praise because 

1 



b SCRIPTURE EMBLEMS 

Saul of Tarsus had his name written in heaven. 
He sought to bring others into acquaintance 
with the Savior who had redeemed his own 
soul from death. He says: '^Brethren, my 
heart's desire and pra3^er to God for Israel is 
that they might be saved. ' ' The apostle John 
says: ''I have no greater joy than to hear Ihat 
my children walk in truth ;" and when Jesus 
Christ would express the ^'earnings of his 
heart for the wicked city he gave utterance to 
his compassion in the words, ^'O Jerusalem, 
Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and 
fitonest them that are sent unto thee, how oft- 
en would I have gathered thy children togeth- 
er, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under 
her wings, and ye would not! " 

The spirit of Christ and of his rehgion is a 
spirit that seeks to save the world. ''Ye" 
Bays Christ, speaking to his disciples, ''are 
the salt of the earth. * ' As though he had said, 
''Your mission is to save the world. As salt 
has a preserving or saving influence upon the 
substances with which it comes in contact, so 
are you designed to exert a saving influence 
upon the world. As instruments in my hind 
you are to purify a sin-corrupted world ; 
you are to preserve it from error,bring it to a 
kno^ledge^ of the truth, and point out id 



OF GOD S PEOPLE. / 

it the way of salvation. What salt is to new- 
ly slain flesh, preserving it from corruption 
and making it savory and acceptable, you 
must be to a world slain by sin and under the 
power of moral corruption." 

There are two ways in which the church is 
''the salt of the earth.'' 

I. By the sil?:nt power of a holy life. 

II. By christian activity. 

I. The silent power of a holy life. 

Wo do not mean that a holy life is silent 

or inactive, for we expect such a life to 

abound with Christian words and works. But 

the influence which goes out from the charac- 

ter of a man of God, aside from the influence 

of his Christian activities, is not to be over- 
looked. 

The patience, the self-control, the quiet in 
time of trouble, the firm and steadfast purpos- 
es, the pure and lofty motives, the self-sac- 
rificing spirit ; in short th.it which goes to 
make up the character of a faithful Christian 
has its influence on the world. A child of God, 
who is *'a living epistle known and lead of all 
men," is a power for good in a community, — 
a power for good even when his lips are 
closed and his hands are folded. The very 
presence of a man of God is a rebuke to sin. 



8 SCRIPTURE EMBLEMS 



(( 



Christ has promised to be with his people 
to the end of the world," and he goes with 
them and gives power to their holy lives. 
They are to the community what salt is to 
food. They have a saving influence upon so- 
ciety. Even those who boast of their sinful 
acts, and ''glorj^ in their shame" among those 
of their own kind are apt to be awed and re- 
strained in the presence of those whose lives 
have in them much of the savor of the gospel. 

We enjoy having the sympathy of those 
about us in what we do and say, and a pro- 
fane man knows that in his profanity he does 
not have the sympathy of the reverent. He 
is not sustained and encouraged in his sin by 
the thought that what he says is gratifying to 
the company. He does not catch inspiration 
and encouragement from their eyes and their 
smiles to profane the name of their God. He 
know^s that such language puts him at a dis- 
count with these good people. If he cares for 
his reputation he is apt to refrain from taking 
God's name in vain before those whom he 
knows use it reverently in prayer and praise. 

If a man has a circle in which he uses and 
enjoys obscene language there are other cir- 
cles in which he puts a bridle upon his tongue 
He is not apt to use vulgar and unclean dia- 



OF god's people. 9 

lect in the presence of the pure and the chaste, 
though they utter no words in condemnation 
of the sin. Something seems to make him 
feel the unsuitableness of such language in the 
ears of those who love and practice purity. 
The silent presence of a consistent Christianity 
is a powerful preacher to the ungodly. It 
helps to stay the fearful tides of corruption 
that would overflow the world. It is salt to 
the society where it is found. 

God's people are in danger of losing sight 
of the power there is in a high-toned Christian 
character. Wickedness flies from the pres- 
ence of a high-toned, strongl}^ marked and 
consistent Christianity. There in no conge- 
niality between, guilt and holiness, and grace 
can out-look sin. 

When there is but little about one's Chris- 
tianitj^ to make it distinctive ; when it has but 
little of the savor of Godliness, then wicked- 
ness may dwell quite comfortably b}^ its side. 
Corruption might be found resting easy under 
the eaves of the church. 

If salt should lose its savor it would be 
powerless to prevent corruption and decay. 
No matter into how close proximity it might 
be brought with food it could not preserve it 
from corruption. ''It is thenceforth good for 



10 SCKIPTURE EMBLEMS 

nothing but to be cast out, and to be trodden 
under foot of men." 

If Christianity is to exert a saving influence 
upon the world by virtue of its characU'.i\ it 
must have a character. Salt has a character. 
It is not an insipid, tasteless, undistinguish- 
able substance. It is not negative in its na- 
ture. You know when you put salt into your 
mouth, it immediately makes its salt nature 
felt. Its presence is at once discoverable, 
and you discern too, when it is upon your 
tongue, that it is salt and not something else. 

Christians must have this distinctiveness 
and positiveness in their Christianity if they 
desire their characters to exeit a saving influ- 
ence upon the world. Did the church but 
possess the graces of Jesus Christ, — his pa- 
tience, his kindness, his love, his submission 
to the Father's will, would not wickedness be 
put to the blush and societ}' be saved from 
many a plague spot of corruption? 

There is strong Christianity and there is 
weak Christianity. There is Christianity which 
permeates society with good influences by the 
very force of its character. Men can see in 
it a remedy for the evils of sin. They can 
see the victor}^ it gives the brutish over their 
evil passions. They can see the rest and com- 



OF god's people. 11 

fort it gives in times of sorrow and distress. 
They can see the victory that the grace and 
blood of Jesus Christ give to the dying Chris- 
tian ; and these things are calculated to be 
*'a savor of life unto life'' to hhn who beholds 
them in God's children. 

II. By christian activity. 

God^s people, b}' the Christian activities 
which tliQ^Y put forth, are ''the salt of the 
earth." 

The influence which goes out from a holy, 
living does not measure all the Christian's 
power for good in the world. 

The works of God's people make them to; 
be a savor of life to dying men. By their ap-. 
peals to men and their pra^^ers to God they, 
are the salt of the earth. 

The power of speech is a great gift. An 
eloquent tongue can sway an audience of. 
thousands by the power of human speech. 
Thought is rapidly and impressively commu- 
nicated by human voice. Words are little 
tilings, but they are fraught with might}^ con-; 
sequences. They kindle or allay passion, 
they engender love or hatred, they convey 
truth or falsehood, they impart pain or 
pleasure. At one time they are barbed ar- 
rows ; at another they are balm for a wounded . 



12 SCRIPTURE EMBLEMS 

spirit. They lead souls into dangerous error 
and they guide souls into truth and light. 
They blind and mislead the unwary, and they 
show to the inquiring soul the way to heaven. 

By means of words the church of Jesus 
Christ is made to be the salt of the earth. 
Christian words, accompanied by the Spirit of 
God, are in society like grains of salt upon 
food. The}' go down into men's hearts, they 
take hold of men's consciences, they stir up 
men's sleeping souls and set them to think- 
ing about sin and salvation. 

Bv the use of words the minister, the Sab- 
bath-school teacher, the parGnt,nndthe Chiis- 
tian friend may hope to win souls to Christ and 
become the salt of the earth. The Bible en- 
joins upon us to let our "speech be always 
with grace, seasoned with salt." It must be 
such as will have a seasoning influence. Our 
words must rebuke and expose error ; thoy 
must be calculated to turn the sinner away 
from his sins and lead him to a virtuous and 
holy life. 

Our tongues are not our own. Their Mak- 
er claims them. And yet how prone we are 
to use them for our own gratification. 

We are not to suppose that sermons and 
Sabbath-School lessons and praj'er- meeting 



OF god's people. 15 

talks etc, are the only forms of speech which 
God's people can use for the saving of the- 
world. How often the earnest Christian can 
give a sanctifying character to the conversa- 
tion in which he is eno:ao:ed. If his soul is a- 
live to divine things he can recognize the hand 
of God in the clouds, the winds, the sunshine 
and the rain. AVhon the harvests are brought 
in he can speak of him who alone '^giveth the^ 
increase." When providences are dark he 
can tell the distressed that God ''doth not af- 
flict willingly nor grieve the children of men," 
and that, — 

* 'Eehind a frowning providence 
lie liiiles a smiling face. ' * 

He can seek out opportunities to invite those- 
who are strangers to grace to come to a (torn- 
passionate Savior for a new heart and the par- 
don of their sins. He can tell his friends of 
a Savior's love, sufferings and dca h. He- 
can tell them of the joys of salvation, the 
bright hopes of the Christian and the rest that 
the soul finds in Christ. He can take up the 
invitations of his Savior and echo them in the 
ears of his friends. He can tell them of the 
death and darkness that await th?. impenitent, 
and that 'there remaineth a rest to the peo- 
ple of God.' 



14 SCRIPTURE EMBLEMS 

We are not bi'ought into the fold of Clirist- 
simply thiit we may be saved. We are ta 
seek the salvation of the perishing millions of/ 
our race. '^Let him that heareth say. Come.": 
Do you know the way to heaven ? Then tell 
others the way. Do you know what a blessed 
thing it is to have Christ formed in you the 
hope of glory ? Then tell those who are- 
strangers to the blessed hope. Do you know- 
what joy arises from a sense of pardoned sin? 
Then tell others of the rest that your spirit 
has found. 

*'The Son of man," sa^^s Christ, ''is come to 
seek and to save that which was lost." The 
same soul-seeking spirit should be in the 
hearts of those whom he has sought and saved. 

The opportunities are many which w^e have 
to plead with lost men to be * 'reconciled to 
God," and God blesses such work to the 
salvation of souls. But when we plead with? 
men to be reconciled to God we must plead 
with God to give our words success. Paul 
may plant and Apollos may water, but God 
giveth the increase. All our w^ords, how-. 
ever tender and discreet will be lost to the 
soul if God does not b}' his Spirit send them- 
home to the: heart. Neither the pleadings of* 
Paul, nor the invitations of Gabriel would leadt^ 



OF god's people. 1§ 

a sinner to forsake liis sinB an J flj to Carist 
for salvation if the Spirit of God did not ae-? 
company the message. Christ says, *'No 
man can come to me, except the Father 
which hath sent me draw him.'* 

If we would be the salt of the earth by 
pleadirg with sinners to come home to Christ 
we must plead with God for the only power 
that can move a sinner's heart. Our tears 
and our entreaties, our most eloquent appeals 
have no power to change the vile affections of 
the human heart. But God invites us to 
come to him for the power that does convert 
and save men. He hears our prayers, and 
sends the convicting and life-giving Spirit 
along with the word and men are saved. 

Has not many a praying mother been the 
salt that has saved her children from moral 
corruption and spiritual death? Has not many 
a praying wife been the salt that has saved 
her husband from a course of sin and a world 
of despair ? Has not many a consistent Chris- 
tian who had power with God in prayer held 
up his hands to the Most High and brought 
salvation to his perishing neighbors? Has 
not many a praying Sabbath-school teacher 
been the salt that has saved a whole class 
from \\ickedness and woe? 



16 SCRIPTURE EMBLEMS 

Those who would win souls raust be men 
and women of prayei*. They must hang up- 
on God for the blessing which God only can 
give. 

Christian brother and sister do you know 
what it is, In' prayer, to lay hold of the con- 
quering right hand of God? The powers of 
darkness fly from the presence of God. The 
hard and stony h^art breaks and yields at the 
touch of his finger. The heart, cold and dead, 
is brought to life and warmth by the power 
of his breath. Dry bones are clothed with sin- 
ews and flesh and stand up as an army for 
him when he breathes upon them. Corruption 
gives place to purity at his command. How 
essential then that they who would be the salt 
of the earth have God in his almighiiness to 
go with them as they attempt to remove sin 
and polluiion from the world and save their 
fellow-creatures from eternal death. And 
since his presence is so essential to success 
how precious the promise which he has coup- 
led with the command to **go and teach all 
nations." He says, '"And lo ! I am with yoii 
alway. even unto the end of the world." Is 
there any need then that God's people be sa- 
vorless in the world ? ^Nlay they not always 
be to societ}' what salt is to food ? 



OF god's people. 17 

Salt, in order to accomplish the purpose for 
which it is used, must be brought into contact 
with the substances which it is to save. It 
must be mingled with the food which it is de- 
signed to preserve. 

God has, as it were, sprinkled his people 
abroad through the world. He has mingled 
them in with the wicked. He has not shut 
them up in some Jerusalem, or holy city, as 
in a salt box, to exclude them from the world ; 
but their paths lie along the paths of the wick- 
ed. They live in the same town, on the same 
street, in the same house, in the same family. 
They are, in the providence of God, thrown 
into the midst of the society which they are to 
save. Sin and holiness come face to face in 
the world. ''The salt of the earth" is thrown 
into the midst of the corrupt and corrupt- 
ing elements of human society, — into the midst 
of that depravity and wickedness which are 
like ''wounds and bruises and putrifying 
sores." Purity and corruption struggle to 
possess the same soul. Surely God has 
brought the purifying element into contact 
with that which is to be purified. He points 
his people to the souls about them in need of 
salvation au'j says, '*Ye are tlie salt of the 
earth. 



18 SCRIPTURE EMBLEMS 

Church of Jesus Christ, reclcemcd by blood, 
do3^ou accept of your commission? Are you 
willing to be brought into contact with this 
ungodly world as salt to save it? Christ your 
Redeemer came into contact with sin that he 
might remove the sin and saA'e the sinner. 
He talked compassionately to the guilty wo- 
man brought to him by the Scribes and Phar- 
isees. The woman that was '*a sinner," in 
Simon's house, received cleansing at l)is hands. 

The sin with which Christ mingled on earth 
did not contaminate his holy soul. He was 
*'come to seek and to save that which was 
lost;'* and if we will go with his spirit into 
the raidst of sin for the good of sinners the 
effect upon our own hearts will be cleans- 
ing and not polluting. 

How could a sinner saved by grace better 
employ himself than in saving souls? "'He 
that winneth souls is wise." 'They that turn 
manv to ris^hteousness shall shine as the stars 
for ever and ever,' '*Let him know, that he 
which converteth the sinner from the error of 
his way shall save a soul from death and shall 
hide a multitude of sins." 

What greater privilege could the church 
desire than to l)e cast into the mJdst of a cor- 
rupt world for the purpose of saving it from 
moral pollution and spiritual death? 



• OF god's people; 19 

To rescue a friend from a watery grave i§ 
Considered a noble deed. T(» save a helpless 
man from the ruins of a burning buildinsf is a 
brave and praise-worthy act. To snatch an 
uiiiortunate man from the clutches of a beast 
of prey would secure to the hero a high es-? 
teem. But watery graves and scorching fires 
and blood-thirsty beasts are little to be feared 
coiilpared with that from which Christ would 
have us to save lost sinners. They. are ex- 
posed to the tortures of that world in which 
Christ says ^ 'there shall be weeping and gnash* 
ing of teeth." . ; 

How blessed to snatch a sinner from, the 
jaws of eternal death,-— to be ths instrument 
of bringing one soul to the happiness of the 
redeemed ! Think of the endlessness of eter- 
nity. Think of those whom you love being 
for ever with Christ in heaven, or in that 
^'fire prepared for the devil and his angels,'* 
and then tell me, if ye have any bowels of 
compassion, if the 'saving of a soul from 
death and the hiding of a multitude of sins is 
not worth all the sacrifices we can maker' 

If Christ, by his sufferings and death, has 
redeemed us from a world of woe should not 
gratitude to him prompt us to labor and pray 
that others may be led to serve and praise 



20 SCRIPTURE EMBLEMS OF GOD's PEOPLE. 

him? Would we not rejoice in seeing him 
honored who had saved us from a bottomless 
pit? Do we not desire to lay a few sheaves 
at his feet in token of our appreciation of 
the blessings he has bought for us with the 
Borrows of Gethsemane and Golgotha? 

Let us bless God for the privilege of lead- 
ing souls to Christ ; bless him that he has cast 
us as salt into the midst of the world's polhi- 
tion, that, as honored instruments in his hands; 
we may purify it and win souls to Christ which 
shall shine as gems in his crown when the 
proudest structures of human genius shall 
have mouldered down to dust, and 'the heav- 
ens and the earth shall have passed awa3%' 



CHAPTER II. 

God's people a light. 
Ye are the light of the world Mat. 5:14. 
In considering this subject let us notice, 

I. The need of natural light. « 

II. The need of spiritual light. 

III. Christ the spiritual light op the 

WORLD. 

IV. God's people may reflect, or radi- 
ate spiritual light. 

The truth taught aud the duty enjoined in 
the words, ''Ye are the light of the world'' 
are very much the same as in the words, ''Ye 
are the salt of the earth." 

That which would qualify us to be "the 
Bait of the earth" would also qualify us to be 
*'the liofht ot the world." That which one 
would do in order to be"the salt of the earth" 
he must do in order to be "the light of the 
world." The result of being "the salt of the 
2 



22 SCRIPTURE EMBLEMS 

earth" is the same as the result of being ''the 
light of the world/' The object and the re- 
sult in either case is the saving of souls. 

In what then does the difference consist, 
and why use the two expressions? 

The words ''salt'' and "light," as used in 
the passages referred to, are figures of speech, 
both suggestive of the influence of the disci- 
ples of Christ upon a lost world. Salt saves ; 
sinners are lost and need to be saved. Light 
guides ;sinners are lost and need to be guided. 

The figures of speech used in these passages 
bring our minds to the consideration of very 
familiar things. We are accustomed to the 
names and influence of salt and hght, and by 
this ftimiliarity we are the better prepared to 
compare natural and s[)iritual things. 

I. The need of natural light. 

It has been said, '4f the light of the sun 

should be put out" "the temperature of the* 

whole atmosphere would fall two hundred and 

sixty degrees below the freezing point," anirf 

that "in three days there would not be a trace 

of vegetable or animal life left on the face 'of 

the" globe." 

The plant is pale and sickly that lives in a 

meager light. If it grows in some dark cellati 

with a scanty window it leans toward the light, 



OF god's people. 23 

it grows toward the liglit. In the language 
of plants it saj^s, ''Lift me out into the light. 
Give me some of that bright sunshine." 

There are health and strength and cheer in 
the ra3'S of the sun. 

A writer speaks of the different methods 
employed in the art-tic regions on one occasion 
to make the long dark nights as clieerful as 
possible. ''Birthdays," he says, "were cele- 
brated, a newsjjriper published, books, games 
etc. , resorted to ; in short, everj^ means employ- 
ed to prevent that depression of spirits which 
is the natural consequence of long continued 
darkness, and of the close confinement which 
the severity of the weather enjoined." 

"For a time these means were successful. 
Every one appeared to be happy and content- 
ed. But they soon lost their novelty, and 
with that the power to interest and amuse. 
A feeling of weariness overspread the whole 
company. Each strove to seem cheerful, 
but spirits would sink, cheeks would become 
pale for want of God's great gift, — light. 

What a cheerless dungeon this world would 
be without lis-ht. Even the brute creation 
seems to wake into new Ufa when the sun 
comes out from behind his cloudy veil. 

Darkness carries with it a loneliness and 



24 SCRIPTURE EMBLEMS 

fear which are chased away by the rosy light 
of the morning. Did you never lie awake in 
the still dark hours of the night with a feeling 
of loneliness, timidity and depression of spir- 
its? Did you never "watch for the morning" 
with a childish anxiety? And when the light 
l)egan to climb up the east, and the darkness 
of your silent room began to move away as 
something afraid of the rising morn, did not 
3'our loneliness pass off on the dark wings of 
the night and your spirits and your courage 
come back to you on the rays of the light? 

''Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant 
thmg it is for the ej^es to behold the sun." 
Eccl. 11: 7. 

Darkness has its use ; but, thank God, it is 
not always dark. The world needs light ;and 
he who made the world said, ''Let tiiere be 
light, and there was light." 

II, The need of spiritual light. 

But again, the world needs spiritual light. 
The sun, moon and stars, though they may 
enable us to find our way up and down the 
w-^lks of earth, will not light us to heaven. 
The heathen have sun-light and moon-light 
and star-light; but this light does not reveal 
to Ihera the condition of their hearts, nor point 
tWm to a Savior nor guide them to heaven. 



OF god's people. 25 

Spiritual darkness enveloped the world in a 
thicker gloom than the darkness of caves or 
cellars or pits. 

Man once had a spiritual light within him ; 
but he sinned and lost the light, and spiritual 
darkness now broods over the world. Phi- 
losophy and science are not able to dispel it. 
Science can solve many intricate problems, 
it can shed light upon many dark questions, 
but it is powerless to reveal a plan of salva- 
tion. Philosophy holds no candles along the 
path that leads to heaven. 

Philosophy and science can speculate a- 
bout the soul, salvation, God and eternity ; 
but they can settle no question concerning 
man's future and unchanging destiny. Their 
beams of light are too pale and too weak to 
penetrate the spiritual night which has closed 
in upon men's souls. 

Man is a sinner, and he feels himself to be 
a sinner, but in the native darkness of his 
soul he knows no remedy for sin. He gropes, 
he stumbles, he falls and is lost. lie needs 
some light that is not in himself,notin nature, 
not in science. ^'The world by wisdom knew 
not God." 

The deplorable condition of our benighted 
world is described in Isaiah where it says, ** We 



26 SCRIPTURE EMBLEMS 

wait for light but behold obscurity ;for bright- 
ness but we walk in darkness. We grope lor 
the wall like the bhnd, and we grope as if we 
had no e3'es ; we stumble at noon-day as in the 
night.'* 

This world needs spiritual light, and this is 
the kind of light named in the text, — spirit- 
ual light, or light in divine things. Light 
that will guide men's souls and instruct them 
in thinsfs relalino; to their eternal destiny. 
Has the world any such light? It has ; and if 
any in the darkness of their souls ask, ''What 
is that light?" we answer, 

III. Christ is the light of the world. 

In the eighth chapter of the gospel accord- 
ing to John we have from Christ's own lips 
these plain words: ''I am the light of the 
world." In another chapter of the same 
gospel he says, ''I am come a light into the 
world." We read of him that he ''was the 
true Light which lighteth every man that 
Cometh into the world." 

Light reveals to us the objects which are 
f-bout lis. By means of it we discover where, 
danger lies, and where safety is. "Whatso- 
ever doth make manifest is light." We are 
told that "Light is in all languages put for 
Jcnoivledge — for whatever enables us to dis- 



OF god's people. 27 

cern our duty, and the path of safety, and 
that saves us from the evils of ignorance and 
error. " 

Christ saj^s, "1 am come a light into the 
world, that whosoever believeth on me should 
not abide in darkness." 

Light is associated with divine and holy 
things. Brightness, in the Bible, is associated 
wit\ Godo After Moses had been with God 
upon the mount ''the skin of his face shone.'' 
''And w^hen Aaron and all the children of Is- 
rael saw Moses, behold the skin of his face 
shone, and they were afraid to come nigh 
him/' 

. When Christ was on the Mount of trans- 
figuration w4th three of his disciples he had, 
perhaps, more then usual communion with the' 
Father. Luke says, "And as he prayed, the 
fashion of his countenance was altered, and 
his raiment was white and glistering. " Mat- 
thew says, "he was transfigured before them : 
and his face did shine as the sun, and his rai- 
ment was white as the light." 

It is said of heaven, "there shall he no 
night there." Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, 
is the light of heaven. We read, "And the 
city had no need of the sun, neither of the 
moon*, to shine in it : for the glory of God did 



S^ SCRIPTURE EMBLEMS 

lighten it and the Lamb is the hght thereof.'* 

Light is associated with God and divine 
things. Christ is the hght of heaven and 
the Hght of earth. By liis Spirit he gives 
light to the souls of men. That hght which 
is found nowhere else is found in Christ. 
They that grope for the wall like the blind, 
and grope as if they had no eyes, and stumble 
at noon-day as in the night, find in Christ a 
light which guides them to rest and to heaven. 
The sweet and simple teachings of his word 
are a 'lamp to their feet and a light to their 
path.' 

When Jesus went up into the mount and 
was set and his disciples came unto him and 
he opened his mouth and taught them, what 
light, and wisdom there were in the gracious 
words that proceedei out of his mouth. 

When he taught Nicodemus that ''except a 
man be born again he cannot &ee the kingdom 
of God," what light he shed upon the road to 
heaven. When he said, "God so loved the 
w^orld that he gave his only begotten Son, 
that w^iosoever believeth in him should not 
perish, but have everlasting life," what light 
he shed upon the way in which poor sinners 
might come into favor with God and be saved. 

When he moved among men in the spirit of 



■OF GOd'^S PEOPLE'. 29 

tenderness and compassion, when ''he went 
about doing good," when he showed submis*- 
sion to the Father's will, wh«n he exhibited 
such a purpose to 'finish the work which hia 
Father had given him to do,' when, with 
such meekness and patience he bore the re* 
proach and contempt of those who hated 
him, — when, we say, he gave, in his life, sueb^ 
an exhibition of these virtues, how his exam- 
ple shone in heavenly lustre before his fol-.. 
lowers ; how it shines out to-day from his 
gospels of love for our guidance and imita* 
tion. 

Have not thousands of perplexed souls 
seen their duty in the light of Christ's exam- 
ple? Does not the church to-day set Christ 
up before it as the only being who ever lived 
on earth in the light of whose example it may 
safely walk? to whom as a pattern it may safe- 
ly conform? He is ''the true Light which 
lighteth every man that cometh into the 
world*" "A lio:ht to lighten the Gentiles and 
the glory of his people Israel." 

If then the Bible is so plain and emphatic 
in its teachings that Christ is the hght of tlie' 
world, what is the meani!]g of the words of 
Christ himself to his disciples, "Ye are the 
light of the world?" 



So SCRIPTURE EMBLEMS 

IV. God's people are the light of the 

WORLD BY REFLECTING, OR RADIATING THK 
LIGHT WHICH THEY RECEIVE FROM CHPvIST. 

Christ is the great source of spiritual light/ 
and though we believe be does communicate 
directly with his people by his Spirit, 37et he 
has also chosen his disciples to speak for him, 
to be his torch-bearers. He requires of tliem 
so to imitate him, that their characters will be" 
suggestive of him. They are to ^^pxd on 
Ghrist, ' ' They are to wear his likeness before 
the world. Does not a child who spends 
much time with its parent, who is largely in- 
structed b}' its parent,so closely copy parental 
expressions and parental manners that it is 
frequently suggesting to your mind the parent 
from whom it learned and copied these things? 
It is reflecting the parent. 

Thus must Christ's people carry his likeness • 
before the world. Those holy tempers, that 
heavenly meekness, that spirit of love and 
kindness which were in Christ must be seen 
in his people. The same kind of light which 
^•omes to the church from Christ must go off 
from the church to the world. The words 
which Christ gave that were so luminous with 
heavenly wisdom must be caught up by the 
disciples of Christ and sounded along the lines. 



OF god's people, 31 

Those words of his, which gave so much light 
to those who heard them when he spoke them 
on earth, must be seized by his people as 
torches from his hand and carried along the 
paths of lost sinners who grope and stumble 
as if they had no eyes. Thus may Christ' vS 
people become light to a dying world. Christ 
said of John the Baptist, •'He was. a burning 
and a shinino* lio'ht.'' 

Though Christ, the great source of spirit- 
uaUigiitbein heaven, his people, like candles 
upon candlesticks, may be giving out to others, 
in thousands of cities and hamlets throughout 
the world, the light which they have borrowed 
from him. 

Would it not be correct to say that the 
cilieo, towns and country of our land are 
lighted up at night by the great oil wells which 
pour oat such streams of iilunainating fluid? 
. And yet it is not that rolling tongues 
of flame are issuins: each nioiit from a few 
great oil vats, illuminating whole towns, citiea 
and states by their glaring streams of light.. 
But watcli ! see the rail- wa^- trains radiating 
from these great oil coiters, carrying their 
great cisterns of light-giving fluid. See far- 
ther, that these great cisterns containing such 
possibilities for light are emptied and their 



^2 SCRIPTURE EMELEMS 

contents carried into thousands and tens of 
thousands of human abodes and put into little 
lamps with pint and half- pint capacities. 
Tlien when the curtain of night drops down 
on the earth, behold I these thousands, not to 
say millions, of little lamps set up their cheer- 
ful light in the cities and scattered dwellings 
of a great nation. 

Surely here is a vast amount of light. The 
darkness of the evening is driven from many a 
dwelling. Many a window is made bright, 
many a home is made cheerful by these little 
bowls of burning fluid. 

But for the source of this light wc must go 
back to the few great oil centers from which 
this illuminating fluid was drawn. The lamp 
does not furnish its own oil. It has no power 
to give light except as it receives its supplies 
from the fountain head. 

So it is with God's people. Scattered a- 
broad through the dark corners of the earth, 
amid the ^^habitations of cruelty," in Chris- 
tian lands and on heathen shores, the}- shine ; 
they guide the lost home to Christ ; they tell 
the story of a crucified and risen Savior to 
those who ''sit in the resrion and shadow of 
death," and hght breaks into tlieir benighted 
tsouls, and they are guided into the way of life. 



OF god's people. 33 

But as we traced the lights that shone so 
brightly in ten thousand homes back to the 
great veins of earth, so must we go back to 
Christ to find the source and author of the 
light which his people are shedding in ten 
thousand sin-darkened homes of earth. 

It is the duty and privilege of the church 
of Christ to scatter the clouds of superstition 
and error which have so darkened the souls 
of men ; to lift the pall of spiritual darkness 
which has folded so closely down upon the 
pathway of the sinner. 

''Let your light" sa3*s Christ "so shine be- 
fore men that they^ may see your good works 
and glorify your Father which is in heaven/' 
80 live, so act, that souls by your light will 
be brought to serve and glorify God, 

In the ages when error found its way into 
the churches, and darkness obscured the or- 
dinances of God's house, how eagerly the re- 
formers seized the gospel torch and held it up 
to light a stra^'ing people back to the pure 
worship of God. 

They were not staniing lamps simply ; 
they moved on with their light till the diuk- 
iiess, like a vampire of night, fled before its 
lieaven-empowered beams. 

As the companies of Gideon carried their 



84 SCRIPTURE EMBLEMS 

lamps in their pitchers and cried ''The sword 
of the Lord and of Gideon," and scattered 
the enem}' ; so did those Christian reformers, 
with the light of gospel rays, scatter the clouds 
of darkness and eiTor that had settled in upon 
the church. 

Let the same holy zeal be kindled in all 
our hearts ail d what flaminor evano;elists we 
would be for Christ. Like the light upon the 
lamp-posts stretched along the street, light 
"would meet light, and we would be teaching 
eouls the woy of life. 

As lamp -posts holding lighted lamps, we 
are set oat along the highways of life, where 
men lost in sin are crowding by us on their 
way to the eternal world. Shall we not hold 
the lio'ht of Christian counsel and Christian 
example close along their pathway and strive 
to show them "the Lamb of God which taketh 
away the sin of the world? 

*'Slia]l we wliO;e so^ll^^ are lighted 
"With wisdcni frjrn en hi:^]}, — 
Shall we ta men benighted 
The lamp of life deny?" 

Christian friends, does the light of 3^our life 
ehine brightly enough to guide souls to Christ? 
If all other lights were put out, — if there were 
no means in the community where you live 



OF god's people. .85 

by which souls could find out what they mu3t 
do to be saved, but the light of your Christian 
life, would the}^ be guided to the Savior, or 
left to w^ander on in darkness? 

Is your life a bright illustration of Chris-, 
tianity? If some one who had never seen a 
Christian desired to be associated for a while 
with: some professed follower of Christ that 
be might ludge for himself whether there were, 
any beauty, and power, and light in Chris-, 
tianity would you be willing that he should, 
pitch his tent over egainst your door that .hie 
might watch your every-day life, listen to 
all your words, scan all your dealings with 
your neighbors, watch all your moods and 
tempers that he might make up liis mind as 
to what Christianity is really worth? -Would 
the light of your life constrain him to admire 
religion and lead him humbly, at Ine'Savior's 
• feet, to seek the pardon of his sins, and an 
interest in the everlasting kingdom? 

''A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. 
Neither do men light a candle, and put it 
under a bushel, but on a candlestick: and it 
giveth light unto all that are in the house/' 
Christ did not put the light of a Christian life 
in our hearts to have it covered nnd hid. The 
light of an earnest, consistent Christian can- 



86 SCRIPTURE EMBLEM3 OF GOD'S PEOPLE, 

not be covered. '^A city that is set on a hill 
cannot be bid." 

'^Let your light so shine before men, that 
they may see your good works, and glorify 
your Father which is in heaven.*' 

Christian friends, souls are at sea; the 
night is dark ; the rocks upon which others 
have stranded stretch along the shore. IShall 
our friends approach the coasts of that long 
eternity in the darkness that hangs over their 
fiouls and we refuse to raise a light to guide 
them into the ''desired haven?" 

• *Trim your feeble lamp my, brother; 

Some poor sailor tempest-tost, 
Trying now to make the harbor, 

In the darkness may be lost. " 

•*L€t the lower lights be bumiDg! 

Send a gleam across the Mave! < 

Some poor fainting, struggling seaman 

You may rescue, you may save.*' 



CHAPTER III. 

god's people a husbandry. 
Ye are Ood's husbandry. I, Cor, 3 :9. 

The thought in this figurative expression, 
in which God's people are called a "husband- 
ry," seems to be this: Ye are like plants un- 
der the care of a husbandman. Ye are to bear 
fruit, and 3'ield a harv3st as the tillage of the 
field. Ye are to grow as the trees of the 
forest and the herbs of the garden. Ye are 
God's husbandry. 

In considering God's people as a husband- 
ry we will notice, 

I. The plants. 

II. Their culture. 

III. Their fruits. 
I. The plants. 

God's people of ever}- name, age, rank, 
condition and color throughout the woild are 
his plants and constitute his husbandly. 
Wherever a division or frao'inent of the church 



38 SCRIPTURE EMBLEMS 

of Christ is found, there is found so much of 
God's husbandly. 

We may observe, first, that these grace- 
phmts, under the care of the heavenly II us- 
bandnian, will grow in every clime, 

"From Greenland's icy nriOLintains, 
To India's coral strand.'' 

God's husbandry may flourish among ice- 
bergs or under a tropical sun, — where winter 
pours its cold and howling blasts or where 
summer's gentle breezes blow. 

The husbandry of earth will not all grow in 
one zone. It lies in belts. The climate 
which suits one plant will destroy the life of 
another. But the plants of God's husbandry 
will grow anywhere on land or sea, at the 
equator or at the poles. 

If 3'ou were to turn your attention to the 
culture of a special order of plants, you 
might find it necessary to change your climate. 
The air of your native home might be too 
rough and the winds too fierce for your cho- 
sen husbandry. But you need go neither north 
nor south in order to be a Christian, 

If you are not a plant of God's husbandry, 
just where 3^ou are is the place, and just now 
is the lime for you to be transplanted into the 
garden of the Lord. 



OF god's people. 39 

The best atmosphere for the plants of 
God's husbandry is an atmosphere of pra3"er. 
Prayer brings the warming, reviving breath of 
God to his grace plants as sunshine and show- 
er to the grass and the lilies of the plain. 

Blessed be God, anywhere on his footstool 
we may be rugged plants of the heavenly 
husbandry. 

Again, we notice that there is great variety 
in the plants of God's husbandry. 

The plants of the fields and gardens of 
earthly tillage about us present to our ej^es 
great variety. There are large plants and 
small plants ; strong plants and weak plants. 
There are old plants and young plants, beau- 
tiful plants and plants less beautiful. But 
each plant that the husbandman has set out 
is a part of his husbandry. 

So it is in God's field. There are the old 
and the young, the weak and the strong, the 
wise and the ignorant, the known and the 
obscure. Each one whom the breath of God 
has fanned into spiritual life is a part of his 
husbandry and is under his care. 

Scattei'cd up and down the world, called 1)y 
whatever name, found in palatial mansion or 
in "dens and caves of the earth," honored or 
despised, great or small, known or unknown, 



40 



SCRIPTURE EJfBLE3fS 



every humble follower of Christ shares the 
honor of a grace-plant in the garden of his God. 

God is certainly pleased with variety ; and 
as the husbandman enters his garden in the 
spring with various kinds of plants and sets 
them out, one for its leaves, another for its 
stems ; one for its fruits, another for its roots ; 
so with wide diversity has God set out his 
spiritual husbandry. His plants are not all 
alike. He does not desire them to be all a- 
like. 

How much more beautiful is the earth with 
the diversity which he has given to its plants 
than if it were all covered with trees just so 
many feet high, or grass just so many inches 
long, with flowers all red, or flags all green. 

Though Solomon in all his glory was not 
arrayed like a lily, God did not see fit to 
make all flowers lilies. Neither has he seen 
fit to make his people all ahke. David was 
different from Moses. Isaiah and Jeremiah 
were not ahke. Peter and John, though as- 
sociated together, present to us very differ- 
ent characteristics. 

It is an encouragement to God's children 
that their holding a place in his husbandry 
does not depend upon their exact Ukeness to 
HDy other child of God. 



OF god's people. 41 

It may be impossible for me to be a Moses, 
or a David, a John, or a Paul. But if I can be 
a christian 1 can belong to God's husbandr3\ 

We hold our position as plants of grace b\^ 
virtue of saving faith in Christ and not by 
virtue of our likeness to any other plant. 

The appletree and the grapevine belong 
alike to the husbandman. They grow from 
the same soil, are cultured by the same hand, 
and, it may be, are held in equal estimation 
by the husbandman. Yet they are by no 
means alike. The husbandman did not desire 
to have them alike. lie purposely chose 
plants for his husbandry which were not a- 
like. It is of his own selection that he has 
the orchard tree, the stalk of corn, the creep- 
ing vine and the tender shrub. 

Where he set the corn he did not want a 
vine but corn, just corn. Where he set the 
shrub he did not want a tree but a shrub, just 
a shrub. 

So in God's garden. lie has of his own 
choice a great diversity. He has set out the 
plants of his own husbandr}^ and he has a use 
for the widow with her two mites as well as f or 
the rich men who cast of their abundance into 
t!ie treasury. He has a use for her who wee[\s 
tears upon his feet and wipes them with the 



42 SCRIPTURE EMBLEMS 

hairs of her head, as well as for Zaccheus 
with his wealth. He has a use for J^azarus 
wdth his poverty as well as for Abraham into 
whose bosom he has gone. He has a use for 
that poor, unlettered disciple, unknown to the 
world, who pleads God's blessing on the 
preached word, as well as for him whose 
'^tongue is the pen of a ready writer" speak- 
ing to spell-bound listeners of grace and blood 
that saves men's souls from death. 

If I be put a plant in the garden of God no 
insignificance, no obscurity can conceal me 
from his watchful eye. No disparity between 
myself and the great ones of earth can turn 
away from me his love and his care. 

He whose wisdom ''gave some apostles, and 
so)i]e evangelists, and some pastors and 
teachers" can find use for the humblest shrub 
which his hand has set out among the plants 
of his spiritual husbandr3\ 

TI. The culture of the plants. 

Let us turn now to the culture of these 
plants. God's husbandry needs and receives 
a great deal of culture. 

What deformed plants are found in God's 
garden. How dwarfish their growth and how 
foul with the weeds of sin. How much be- 
dewing, and nourishment, and pruning, and 



OF god's people. 43 

sunshine and weeding they need in order to 
secure a healthy growth. 

When care and nourishment are withheld 
from the plants of the field they perish. If 
the soil is poor the husbandman must furnish 
nourishment for the plants. If there are poi- 
sonous weeds among the plants he must clear 
them away. If the plants are crooked and 
deformed he must train them. 

Now these things God does for his spiritual 
husbandr3^ He nourishes it and he cleanses it. 

The soil of worldliness, sensual pleasure and 
vanity which surrounds the Christian in this 
world is too poor and thin to furnish any spir- 
itual sustenance to the soul. 'This vile world 
is no friend to grace, to help us on to God.' 
But God nourishes his people with the rich 
promises and doctrines of his word. Faith 
takes root in the soil of God's promise. As 
the roots of the plants in the garden, running 
through the earth, draw nourishment from the 
strengthening particles witli which they meet, 
60 the souls of God's people, searching 
through his word, gather from its precious 
doctrines of a crucified and risen Lord, nour- 
ishment which makes them grow as the vin- 
tage of a fruitful field. 

Do what yo-i will for the plants of yoar gar- 



44 SCRIPTURE EMBLEMS 

den you cannot make them grow without a 
nourishing soil. The seed may fall in stony 
places and spring up and bid fair for a little 
while. But if there is not sufficient nourish- 
ment in the soil, it is in A'ain for them that the 

sun shines or the rain falls. They must he 
nourished or die. 

So it is with God's husbandry. But abun- 
dantlj^ does he nourish it with the fertilizing 
])romises and doctrines of his word. 

As by day and b}^ night the gardener's plants 
feed on the nourishment which they find in 
the earth and the air, so do the health}^ grace- 
plants of God's husbandry feed by day and 
by night upon the cheering, strengthening 
words of the divine Husbandman. God nour- 
ishes the plants of his husbandrj^ 

But plants need something besides a rich 
soil and a genial air. 

Not far from the gardener's blooming beds 
and loaded vines we see a little cluster of tools 
vvith which he has been at work. He has been 
over that field of waving grain with plow and 
harrow. He has been through that fruitful or- 
chard with saw and pruning hook. He has been 
through that garden of herbs and flowers with 
rake and hoe. Careful, pains-taking cul- 
ture has preceded the gladdening harvest. 



God's husbanclr^MS not above the necessity 
of a similar culture. Weeds of sin are not 
strangers among his plants. Deformities not 
a few have been discovered in his husbandry. 

To rid his plants of these deformities and 
weeds of sin God brings his tools into his gar- 
den. 

Evil passions, depraved affections, selfish- 
ness, avarice and sensuality hinder the growth 
and fruitfulness of God's people, and must be 
removed. They dishonor the Husbandman in 
whose garden ihey are found, and they must 
be separated from the plants. 

God employs various methods to weed shi 
out of the hearts of his people. His word 
strikes at the root of sin. It is like- a plowshare 
that runs hard by the roots of the plants and 
clears away the injurious and oflensive growth. 

Never did sluggard's garden more need 
cleansing than does the heart of man foul with 
the weeds of sin ; and the Psalmist asks, 
''Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his 
way," and then answers, saying, ''By taking 
heed thereto accoiding to thy word." The 
poet has put it thus : 

"How shall the j'oung secure their liearts, 

And guard tlieir lives l'ro]n sin? 
Tiiy \vor(i the choicest rules imjjjivts, 

To kce;) the co.-.s.ij;:cc clerin." 



46 SCRIPTURE EMBLEMS 

Christ said to his disciples, ''Now ye are 
clean through the word which 1 have spoken 
unto you." 

That word which is ''quick and powerful 
and sharper than any tw^o-edged sword'' is a 
good w^eeding instrument in the hand of the 
divine Gardener with which to rid his grace- 
plants of choking thistle and poisonous night- 
shade. 

The processes by which God cleanses his 
husbandry may to us sometimes seem severe. 
lie may, at times, run his garden tools down 
deep into our hearts to reach the roots of 
pride, or avarice, or self-love. But w^e need 
the culture, and we should ask God to spare 
no lurking sin however deeply it may be root- 
ed in our hearts. 

The Psalmist prays, "Cleanse thou me from 
secret faults." To the heavenly Husbandman 
who sees every foul weed in his garden, he 
cries, "Search me O God, and try me and see 
if there be any wicked way in me." 

We need much culture. Our hearts are 
weedy, and the weeds are deep-rooted and 
strong, and we can better afford to have them 
removed, even by a severe process, than to 
have them poisoning and dwarfing our Chris- 
tian graces. 



OF god's people. 47 

"Worldliness may be springing up in the 
Christian's heart, and hindering his spiritual 
growth ; and God, as a kind husbandman may 
remove it at the cost of much suffering to the 
soul. But that soul will thrive better when it 
is removed, though it be a severe stroke that 
takes it awa^^ ; and the Christian ought to thank 
God for the culture though for the present it 
seem not to be joyous but grievous. 

God may send upon one of his children, for 
the cultivation of his graces, povert}^ and want ; 
upon another, sickness and bodily pain ; upon 
another bereavments and loneliness ; upon an- 
other some secret, untold sorrow w^liich hangs 
like a perpetual shadow over his pathway. 
Yet all these things, severe as they may seem, 
may be but the tools in the hand of our heav- 
enly Husbandman with which he is answering 
the prayer of the soul: ^'Cleanse thou me 
from secret faults." 

Child of affliction, fear not God's sharpest 
garden tools. It is that he may cleanse away 
the noxious weeds of sin from his husbandry 
that you feel their keen edge cutting about 
your heart. 

God is no slovenly Husbandman, willing to 
see the weeds of worldKness, pride, ambition, 
selfishness and lust growing among his plants. 



48 SCRIPTURE EMBLEMS 

''Grow in Grace" is the precept of the di- 
vine Husbandman. It is written over his gar- 
den gate, upon his weeding tools and his prun- 
ing hook; and as some stubborn sin hangs a- 
bout a plant in the garden, overshadowing 
and dwarfing it, he comes and tears it away, 
savin^r in tenderness to the disturbed and shak- 
en plant, '*Grow in grace." 

You who have been growing plants in God's 
husbandry, look back over the times in 3^our 
ILie in which God, in ways of his own choos- 
ing, has, as it were, weeded down the sins of 
your hearts, and see if you cannot thank him 
for every stroke of his garden tools with which 
be has been cleansing his husbandr3\ 

But for what end is all this culture? Why 
must the plowshare of affliction run through 
and through God's husbandry? Why must 
the pruning knife so often be brought into the 
vineyard ? 

These questions will be answered as we con- 
feider, 

III. The fruits. 

The object of husbandry is fruit. 

The tiusbnndman plants and plows for a 
harvest. The breaking up of the fallow ground 
and the scattering of seed ; the work of the 
]ioe and the rake all have reference to an in- 
gathering. 



OF god's people. 49 

So does God set out his spiritual husbandry 
and culture it with his own hand that it may 
bear fruit. ''Herein is my Father glorified^* 
says Christ, ' 'that ye bear much fruit. * ' ' 'Every 
branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh 
away ; and every branch that beareth fruit, 
he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more 
fruit.*' 

God's Spirit moves upon his husbandry 
as the warm winds of spring on earthly vin- 
tage, and it bears fruit. 

In natural husbandry there are divers kinds 
of fruits to be found. The apple, the peach, 
the plum, the cherry and the grape may all 
be found in the same garden. 

So is there a variety in spiritual products. 
"Tlie fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, 
longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 
meekness, temperance." 

This is blessed fruit to grow in such hearts 
as ours, and only grows there when the Spirit 
of God breathes upon them. 

God's people have a deep interest in this 
fruit. It is that which makes the difference 
between them and unrenewed sinners. Un- 
less the fruit of the Spirit be found in our 
hearts we are not the chihh^en of God ; we do 
not belong to his husbandry. 



50 SCRIPTURE EMBLEMS 

The love of God, the joy of pardoned sin, 
the peace which comes to the soul sweetly 
reconciled to God are fruits that do not grow 
in the native soil of the human heart. It is 
when God, in ways of his own choosing, pre- 
pares our hearts, breaks up the fallow ground 
amid repentance and tears, sows the seeds of 
divine truth, nourishes them with his word 
and cultures them by his Spirit that they bring 
forth this fruit. 

It is when the soul is in union with Christ, 
when there is life oroinsr out from Christ to his 
plants that they bear fruit. ''As the branch 
cannot bear fruit of itself,'* says Christ, ''ex- 
cept it abide in the vine ; no more can ye ex- 
cept ye abide in me." 'Tie that abideth in 
me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth 
much fniit ; for without me ye can do noth- 
ing." 

What child of God does not long to have 
the fruit of the vSpirit abounding in his heart '^ 
As the work of the Spirit advances in the heart 
there is less of the power and dominion of sin ; 
there is more weaned ness from the world ; 
there is more resemblance to God. 

In proportion as the soul bears the fruit of 
the Spirit it growls in the experience of divine 
thin<rs. 



OF god's people. 51 

Some souls have a much richer Christian ex- 
perience than others. The love, and joy, and 
peace which are the fruit of the Spirit are dis- 
tinct realities with them. When they speak 
of these things they speak out of a fruitful 
experience. Have you not sometimes con- 
versed with those whose language convinced 
you that they had a rich Christian experience, 
a deep experimental knowledge of divine 
things ? 

Those who have ver\^ little of the fruit of 
the Spirit in their hearts can talk about relig- 
ious things, — about the church, God's min- 
isters and the imperfections of Chris«tians, and 
may think their conversation very religious. 
But those who have a deep and rich experience 
in divine things, a large measure of the work 
of the Holy Spirit in their hearts, delight to 
think and talk of Christ, of his love, his suf- 
ferings and his death. The sweet, deep themes 
of atoning blood and sanctifying grace engage 
their thoughts and their tongues. 

The joy and interest which advanced Chris- 
tians feel in these things are the fruits of the 
Spirit, and "by their fruits ye shall know 
them.'' 

Christian friends, have you this rich and 
full experience in divine things ? Is the fruit 



52 SCRIPTURE EMBLEMS OF GOD's PEOPLE. 

of the Spirit abounding in 3'our hearts? Have 
you that love and joy and peace ^yhich lift 
the soul above the world ? Do your hopes of 
heaven brighten day by day? Does your 
faith grasp the promises of God with a strong- 
er confidence than it once did? Can you 
cnrb and control 3'our evil propensities better 
than 3"ou once could ? Has prayer a joy and 
an unction about it that makes it a dehght to 
3'our soul ? Is the word of God to yon a book 
of increasing interest, giving daily comfort 
and strength for the duties of life? Do you 
get clearer and more precious views of Christ 
and his atoning work? Does death lose some 
of its terrors and seem more like a messeng^er 
of mercv to release you from a world of sin ? 
Is heaven a desirable place to you because 
there the soul will be with Christ and see him 
as he is? These things are the fruits of the 
Spirit, and he that possesses them is ''like a 
tree planted by the rivers of water that bring- 
eth forth his fruit in his season." 

If we would have that life which is ''neith- 
er barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of 
our Lord Jesus Christ," we must seek it by 
abiding in Christ and keeping liis command- 
ments. 



CHAPTER IV. 

god's pkople a building. 
Ye are God's building. I. Cor, 3:9, 

When some object, as salt, or light, or hus- 
bandry, or a building is used to denote God's 
people, there must be some reason for using 
that object ; there must be some point, or 
points of resemblance between God's people 
and the object chosen to represent them. 
These objects are not fixed upon arbitrarily 
but on account of their fitness. There is some- 
thing which is common to the people of God 
and the object chosen to represent them. 

What IS there then that is common to God' s 
people and a building? 

A building is erected for a dwelling place, 

and God is spoken of in his w^ord as dwelling 

in his people. ''I will dwell in them" says 

God, ^'and walk in them." Again, ^*That 

4 



5^ SCRIPTURE EMBLEMS 

Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. '' 

^'Now therefore ye are no more strangers 
and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the 
saints, and of the household of God : and 
are built upon the foundation of the apostles 
and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the 
chief corner stone ; in w4iom all the building 
titly framed together growxth unto a holy 
temple in the Lord : in w4iom ye also are 
builded together for a habitation of God 
through the Spirit." 

The reason, then, why God has chosen a 
building to represent his people appears to 
be the fact that he dwells in them. A building 
is a dwelling place. 

In connection w^ith an ordinary building at 
least four things are to be considered, viz ; — • 

I. The foundation. 

II. The building material. 

III. The builder. 

IV. The owner of the building. 
I. The foundation. 

li I were aiming to pitch a tent where I ex- 
pected to spend but a single night under a fair 
sky, I should not be very particular w^hetli- 
er I set up the poles and stretched the canvas 
on the sand, the pebbles or the solid rock, for 
I should expect the next morning to take 



OF god's people. 55 

down my poles, fold up m}^ canvas and start 
again on my wa3\ 

But if I were about to erect a building of 
strong material, in which I expected to pass 
the remainder of my days, and upon which I 
expected rains to fall and storms to beat, I 
should want it set upon a foundation which 
no storms would move, and which no rains 
would dissolve. Christ said that the wise man 
built his house upon a rock. 

The building named in the text, constituted 
of Christ's redeemed people, and called God's 
building, has for its foundation the Lord Je- 
sus Christ. ''Therefore thus saith the Lord 
God, Behold I lav in Zion for a foundation a 
stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a 
sure foundation. ' ' ' 'Other foundation can no 
man lay than that is laid which is Jesus 
Christ." 

Christ is a "tried" foundation. He wss 
tried when '^he came to his own and his own 
received him not. " When his mission was 
misunderstood, when he was hated by his 
countrj'men, when he was accused of alle- 
giance with Beelzebub, he was tried and stood 
the test. He did not forsake the cause he had 
undertaken, nor leave men to perish in their 
blindness and sin. 



56 SCRIPTURE EMBLEMS 

When one of the twelve betrayed him he 
was tried. When he drank the bitter cup in 
Gethsemane, bowed to the earth, his ''soul 
exceeding sorrowful even unto death" he was 
tried. 

When thej^ came out to hira "as against a 
thief with swords and staves," carried him off 
in the night, held a hasty, unlawful council 
concerning him and pronounced him worthy 
of death he was tried ; but he stood the test. 
lie did not ''command more than twelve le- 
gions of angels" to coioe and rescue him. 
He did not refuse any longer to be the foun- 
dation upon wiiich a wicked w^orld might rest 
for pardon and salvation. 

When he w^as led away to be crucified, 
nailed upon the cross between two thieves, 
mocked and jeered in his agony and forsaken 
of his Father he was tried. Our sins were 
laid upon him, and though they were heavy, 
very heavy, he bore them. He did not shrink 
even in his bitter hour. lie did not cry out, 
"I cannot bear this weight; I cannot be the 
foundation of the church with all its w^eight of 
guilt. Let it sink and bear its own iniquit}^" 
Ko, the Father "laid upon him the iniquity of 
us all," and he bore it, bore it till Justice was 
satisfied, bore it till salvation was purchased 



OF god's people. 57 

for the believer, bore it till he was ready to 
lift to the church the triumphant shout ''It 
is finished r' 

Ah! Christ is a "tried" stone. If there is 
anything precious at stake it may be safely 
committed to him. If there is anything pre- 
cious to be built it may safely be built upon 
him. "God's building" needs no "other 
foundation." 

Christ's people have tried him and found 
him a "sure foundation." They have tried 
him when sins awaked their fears, and he has 
calmed their troubled souls, and they have 
found that the blood which "cleanseth from 
all sin" was a sufficient foundation for their 
hopes, 

The}^ have tried him when storms of afflic- 
tion beat about them, and they found his 
grace all sufficient. They "were perplexed, 
but not in despair ; persecuted, but not for- 
saken ; cast down, but not destroyed." 

They have tried him in the waters of death. 
When every other foundation was being wasli- 
ed away, when no human arm could sustain, 
when hope needed a "sure foundation," hisi 
people have rested their souls on him and 
have felt secure amid the waters of death. 
. Christ is a tried stone. If 3^ou have any- 



tS SCRIPTURE EMBLEMS 

thing which you wish to make secure build it 
upon Christ, for he is a ' 'tried stone.'* 

II. The building material. 

Where shall building material be found el- 
egant enough to be reared upon this founda- 
tion, this tried stone? If we were permitted 
to aocend the skies, and enter the plains of 
liglit would w^e behold the Architect of this 
building gathering the pure, unf alien angels 
auii constructing them into a spiritual house ? 
Would Gabriel be placed as a shining pillar 
of this building? Would that heavenly host 
which sang the natal song of the world's new- 
born Redeemer be the material first built upon 
him whose praises they chanted at his birth? 

No, the building named in the text is com- 
posed of humbler material than angel hosts. 

From the ranks of the lost, sin-sunken and 
degraded of earth are gathered the material 
for this building. All who are saved by the 
sacrifice and merits of Christ are built upon 
bim as ''a spiritual house.'' Every lost sinner 
since the days of Adam who has become a 
subject of renewing grace has become a part 
of God's building. 

It w^as not every kind of material that was 
wrought into Solomon's Temple. Solomon 
did not issue a proclamation to the people of 



OF god's people. 59 

his kingdom saying that he would gladly j-e- 
ceive all sorts of sticl^s and stones as the build- 
ing material of Jerusalem's gorgeous Temple. 
He says, Command thou that they hew me 
cedar trees out of Lebanon." 

But when the building which is to be the 
"habitation of God" is to be erected, and to 
be built upon Christ as the foundation stone, 
the call is to sinners of every dye who are 
willing to become a part of that spiritual 
house. 

Christ issues the call himself. He says, 
''The Son of man is come to seek and to save 
that which was lost." •'! came not to call the 
righteous, but sinners, to repentance." 

It is for this building material that he calls 
when he says, "Him that cometh unto me I 
will in nowise cast out." 

All who will accept of Christ as the founda- 
tion stone, though they be quarried from the 
depths of sin, are "builded together for a hab- 
itation of God through the Spirit." 

Behold his messengers out in search of ma- 
terial for this building. What do they find ? 
Human souls all polished, nicely fitted and 
made meet for a habitation of God? Nny, 
verily ! Crooked sticks and shapeless stones 
are gathered for this work. Prominent in the 



60 SCRIPTURE EMBLEMS 

gospel we find a sorry subject. She stands 
in the house of one Simon, and he calls her 
"•a sinner." But she manifests an interest in 
Christ, at whose feet she weeps, and she is re- 
ceived and made a memorable stone in God's 
building. 

Another is found ; but what a sad and hope- 
less prospect. Already there dwell within 
her seven devils. Will this wretched speci- 
men of human depravity, the abode of devils, 
])e allowed to fill a niche in the wall of that 
house which is builded for a habitation of 
God? Yes, the master workman takes even 
this forlorn hope, casts out the evil spirits, 
and "'Mar}^ Magdalene, out of whom went sev- 
en devils/' becomes a polished and prominent 
stone in God's house. 

It is not simpl}', nor chiefly, kings and 
princes that God chooses for his habitation. 
''Not many mighty, not many noble, are 
called." 

In a building there are more small pieces 
of material than large ones; more weak pieces 
than strong ones. There are a few large 
l)eams and pilUirs ; but there are more thin 
l)oards than thick beams. There are more 
small nails than strong spikes ; more pins than 
pillars ; more light shingles than heavy sills. 



OF god's people, 61 

So is it with God's building. Comparative- 
ly few of earth's ''mighty" and "noble" ever 
get builded into the spiritual house. Those 
from the lowly walks of earth, — the "common 
people," such as, when Christ w^as on earth, 
"heard him gladly," compose the greater 
part of the people of God. 

The poorest and the wo7*st of mankind may 
come, — the drunkard from his cups and the 
felon from his cell, and by faith in the atone- 
ment of Christ, be received as building ma- 
terial for this spiritual house. 

In an ordinary building part of the materi- 
al is visible and part is hidden. Part can be 
seen at a distance and part only upon closer 
inspection. 

So it is with God's building. There are 
some in it who, by virtue of office or gifts, are 
very prominent ; they are placed by the build- 
er where, like pillars and door-posts, they are 
readily seen. Their uses are easily discover- 
ed. Their offices are apparent. They are like a 
door that is shut to keep out the cold, or open- 
ed to let in the air, so easily is it seen for what 
purpose they are set in the building. 

It is not difficult to see that Joseph, and 
Moses, and the apostles were useful material 
in God's building. But there are many of 



62 SCKIPTURE EMBLEMS 

God's people who are very obscure. Tliey 
are very much like those parts of a building 
which are hidden from sight, — obscured by 
other parts. 

Yet those Christians who are not much seen 
or much heard may fill a very important po- 
sition in God's building. 

In a house manj^ of the supporting beams 
and posts are hidden entirely from sight. One 
might enter the house and dwell there for a 
month without seeing or thinking of the strong 
bectms that upheld the building in which he 
so comfortably dwelt, though it depended up- 
on them all the while for its strength and 
support. 

In that house which is built of God's re- 
deemed people for his habitation may be many 
an obscure one who is nevertheless a very pil- 
lar of the building. 

That feeble, bed-ridden child of God, whose 
voice is never heard outside of the room in 
which she suffers, may be a strong pillar in 
God's liouse. The prayers of faith that go up 
from her couch of sufferings, — the words of 
exhortation and comfort which she utters to 
her friends, from a heart filled with the ripen- 
ed fruits of the Spirit, ma}^ make her as use- 
ful in the service of God. as acceptable in hi& 



OF god's people. 63 

building, as some whose gifts and offices bring 
them more into view. 

Though the material of which God's build- 
ing is composed is very poor, and in most 
respects unworthy the foundation upon which 
it rests, there are two things which make it 
very precious, and these are its capacity and 
its dar ability. 

Under the fashioning hand of the master 
builder this material improves. It becomes 
more like the foundation. 

The bodies of God's people are one day to 
be '^fashioned like unto Cln'ist's glorious 
bodj^" and their souls freed from every blem- 
ish and imperfection. The apostle John 
sa^'s, ''It doth not 3'et appear what we shall 
be ; but we know that, when he shall appear 
we shall be like him ; for we shall see him as 
he is. And every man that hath this hope 
in him purifieth himself even as he is pure.'' 

Poor as the material may seem when God 
takes it to build it into tlje walls of his dwell- 
ing, it has capacity for improvement; and as 
God dwells in this abode of his redeemed 
ones and the}' have intercourse with him and 
look upon him, the}- ''are changed into the 
same image from glory to glorj- even as by 
the Spirit of the Lord." 



64 SCRIPTURE EMBLEMS 

Poor and unsightly as the sinner is when 
God calls him he is not utterly valueless as 
building material, for he is capable, in the 
hands of the master builder, of great transfor- 
mation, — of being changed in some measure 
into the image of Christ. He becomes a ' 'live- 
]y stone" in a "spiritual house." 

The material of which God's building is e- 
rected is valuable because of its durability. 
All ordinary dwelling houses moulder down to 
dust. Time or accident demolishes the most 
durable dwelling places which men ever erect. 
Where are the palaces of the king^? Gone. 
Where is Jerusalem's gorgeous temple ? Gone. 
Houses built of the hardest stone, and sheet- 
ed with the finest brass would eventually crum- 
ble down under the wasting power of time. 
But the "spiritupJ house," made of such mate- 
rial as you and 1, will last forever. "The 
gates of hell shall not prevail against it. ' ' The 
houses which we dwell in waste away. But 
the house God dwells in, wrought ot sinners 
bouQ^ht bv the blood of his Son, shall stand 
world without end. 

Call no sinner then worthless, however lost 
and wretched he may be, as long as there is 
a shadow of hope that he may be saved by re- 
deeming blood and made a lively stone in 



OF god's people. 65 

God's building. Though seven devils dwell 
in his bosom, the builder of this spiritual 
houne can east them all out and fit him to shine 
amid garnished stones in the walls of his own 
building. 

III. The builder. 

When we see anything which has striking 
characteristics about it, it is natural for us to 
ask. Who made this? 

We see a church in the world, a church call- 
ed God's buildhig. We find that it was in ex- 
istence lono* ao;es ao^o.that it has been in exist- 
ence ever since ; that it has stood, and grown 
strong in the midst of adverse circumstances. 
We find that dissolving time, and consum- 
ing fire have no power to destroy it. Does 
the 'question then arise, Who made this mar- 
velous, this indestructible building? Then 
we answer, God is its maker and builder. 
Christ said, ''Thou art Peter, and upon this 
rock will I build my cJiurch.'" 

None but God can build God's house. 
Others may pray for you, may invite you, 
may instruct you ; but no one except God can 
make you a Christian and build 3'ou into the 
walls of a Spiritual house. 

The minister ma}^ baptize you, the officers 
of the church may receive you to its member- 



66 SCKIPTUIii: EMBLEMS 

ship, and the clerk may write your name on 
the roll, and you will be a member of the vis- 
ible church ; but this will not make 3^ou a Chris- 
tian, nor a part of God's building. 

Unless God, by his Spirit, renew ^^onr heart 
3"0u are no Christian. Unless God build you 
into the walls of his spiritual house you have 
no place in it. 

Nothing that 3^ou can do 3'ourself will build 
you into this wall. If you have no place in 
this building you can pray, and 3'ou ought to 
pray, that God would build you in, that he 
would renew your heart by his grace and fit 
3'ou to fill some place in his spiritual house. 
This much you can do; but the building is all 
done by God himself. 

None will ever be able in the eternal world 
to point God to a stone in the wall of his build- 
ing and say ''There is some of my setting." 
Neither Peter, nor Paul, nor any other apostle 
ever set a stone in that wall. Paul was con- 
nected with the salvation of Onesimus. H-^ 
said he had be2:otten him in his bonds. But 
all that Paul did for Onesimus would have left 
him forever out of the building had not God 
undertaken for him. 

God's people are used as instruments in e- 
reeting this spiritual house; but they are ut- 



OF god's people. 6T 

terly powerless to set souls into its walls. To 
God shall be all the praise for the salvation 
of saved souls. His seal and the mark of his 
tools will be found on ever}" stone in his build- 
ing from turret to foundation. 

IV. The owner of the building. 

It is not always the case that the builder is 
the owner of the building. Frequently one 
person builds a house for another, and when 
it is completed there is not a nail or a stone in 
it that belongs to the builder. He must retire 
from the work of his hands and leave it to its 
proper owner. 

But this is not the case in the building under 
consideration. The Scripture before us explic- 
itly says, ''Ye are God's building.'' In an- 
other place it is said to God's people, ''Ye are 
not your ow^n ; ye are bought with a price." 

There is nothing in this building from cap- 
stone to foundation but that belongs to God. 
Every thing in it from pin to pillar has been 
bought and paid for with the precious blood 
of Christ. Prophets, apostles, pastors, teach- 
ers, disciples have all been purchased for this 
building- Not purchased with the coin of 
this world, such as that with which Abraham 
purchased a burying place, "current money 
with the merchant." Not such as the ''thirty 



68 SCRIPTURE EMBLEMS OF GOD'S PEOPLE. 

pieces'' for which Judas betrayed his Master. 
No they 'Svere not redeemed with corruptible 
things as silver and gold," ''but with the pre- 
cious blood of Christ, as of a larab without 
blemish and without spot. " 

All who have been ''builded together for a 
habitation of God through the Spirit" may 
sing : 

* 'Lord I am thine, entirely thine, 
Purchased and saved by blood divine. " 

Let us rejoice, dearly beloved, that God is 
willing to build us together for a habitation of 
himself ; that he is wiUing to dwell with us. 

Let us open -wide the doors of the spiritual 
house and invite him in, that the sunshine of 
his countenance may fall upon us, that dark 
and lonely hours may be cheered by his pres- 
ence, and sin be subdued by his power. 

Jesus has said "If a man love me he will 
keep my words : and my Father will love him, 
and we will come unto him and make our a- 
bode with him." 



CHAPTER V. 

god's people a temple. 

Know ye not that ye are the temple of Gocl^ 
and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you^ 

I Cor, 3:16, 

It has been said that "The distinctive i(^a 
of a temple, contrasted with all other build- 
ings, is that it is the dwellingplace of a deity ; 
and every heathen temple had its idol, but the 
true and living God dwelt "between the cher- 
ubim" in the Holy of Holies at Jerusalem. 
Hence, figuratively applied, a temple denotes 
the church of Christ." 

We have supposed that God calls his people 
a building because he dwells in them. In 
the figure of a temple, used to represent 
God's people, we still have the idea of a 
building, but there is an advance in •the 
thought. The idea of a temple carries us in- 
to the realm of religion. Ordinary buildings 
are the abodes of men, — bad men as well as 
good men. The building which we have just 

5 



70 SCRIPTURE EMBLEMS 

ha.l under consideration in the previous cluap- 
tcr is one in which God dwells ; but a build- 
in^C i^ not necessarily the dwelling place of 
God An ordinary building is not itself sug- 
gecilive of any thing sacred or religions. 
But a temple is at once suggestive of religion 
and a deitj' ; and since God dwells in his peo- 
ple, [ind the place where God dwells is, by 
virtue of his presence, a sacred place, God's 

people are a sacred building, or a temple. 
Let ns notice, 

I. That a temple suggests an indwelling 

DEITY. 

II, That a temple must be kept holy. 

I. A TEMPLE suggests AN INDWELLING DEITY. 

^Yhen God honors his people with the name 
of a temple, they should remember that the 
expression suggests his presence wdth them. 

In the temple of old, God gave to the peo- 
ple an evidence of his presence. The sheki- 
nah between the cherubim was some kind of 
manifestation which gave evidence of the pres- 
ence of God in the temple. The Psalmist 
Bays, ''He sitteth between the cherubim.'' 
And again, "The Lord is in his holy temple.'' 

At the dedication of the temple, when the 
{^rk of the covenant and the overshadowing 
cherubim were brought into the most holy 



OF god's people. 71 

place, "the cloud filled the house of the Lord, 
so that the priests could not stand to minister 
biecause of the cloud : for the glor}^ of the 
Lord had filled the house of the Lord. Then 
spake Solomon, The Lord said that he would 
dwell in the thick darkness. I have surely 
built thee a house to dwell in, a settled place 
for thee to abide in forever.*' 

At the time of the dedication of the temple 
at Jerusalem, the central place of Jewish wor- 
ship, the Lord said concerning the temple, 
''Now mine eyes shall be open, and mine 
ears attent unto the prayer that is made in 
this place. For now have I chosen and sanc- 
tified this house, that my name may be there 
forever : and mine e3'es and mine heart shall 
be there perpetually." 

"In my distress," says one, "I called up- 
on the Lord, and cried to my God : and he 
did hear my voice out of his temple^ and my 
cry did enter into his ears." The T*salmist 
says, "One thing have I desired of the Lord, 
that will I seek after ; that 1 may dwell in the 
house of the Lord all the days of my life, to 
behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire 
in his temple." 

Thus, in the Scriptures, the temple is as- 
sociated with God. It is said to be buili un- 



72 



SCRIPTURE EMBLEMS 



to him. It is spoken of as the place where 
lie has put his name. It is spoken of as a 
])laee from whicli he is heard. God says he 
has chosen it that his name and his e3'es, and 
his heart ma}' be there. 

When, then, God calls his people his tem- 
ple we are at once reminded of his presence. 
The name suggests to us an indwelling deity. 

The idea of a deity in the temple is not con- 
fined to the Christian religion. The heathen 
have their temples with their deities. But 
the deity which dwells in the temple named 
in the passage of Scripture before us is the 
''King of kings and Lord of lords.'* A build- 
ing suggests an inhabitant; but a temple 
suggests an indwellirtg God. 

II. A Temple must be kept holy. 

When Moses saw the bush that burned with 
fire and was not consumed, he said ''I will 
now turn aside, and see this great sight, why 
the bush is not burned." And the Lord said 
to him ''Draw not nigh hither: put off thy 
shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon 
thou standest is holy ground.'' The Lord 
was in the burning bush ; it was a hallowed 
place, and Moses must unsandal his feet. ''The 
l)lace whereon thou standest," says the voice 
of G od , ' 4s holy gro a n d . " 



OF god's people. 73 

"Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to 
look upon God/' Men seem to feel that the 
place where God makes an especial manifes- 
tation of himself is a sacred place. Witness 
the feeling of Jacob when he had a dream, 
and saw, as it were, a ladder, and the angels 
ascending and descending, and the Lord 
standing above the ladder speaking to hijn. 
When he awaked out of his sleep he said, 
''Surely the Lord is in this place ; and I knew 
it not. And he was afraid, and said. How 
dreadful is this place ! this is none other but 
the house of God, and this is the gate of heav- 
en." 

Awe seems to strike through the hearts of 
men when they stand where God makes espe- 
cial manifestations of his presence. If they 
are conscious of unforgiven sin how fearful to 
be where God makes his presence and his pow- 
er visible to the eyes of men. They seem to 
feel at once that their sin has incurred the 
wrath of God, — that only holiness becomes 
his presence. W^as it not a sense of a divine 
interposition that smote king Belshazzar with 
such fear when the handwriting appeared on 
tlie wall and he "saw the part of the hand 
that wrote?" 

The belief in the hearts of men that God 



74 SCRIPTURE EMBLEMS 

lias a controversy with sin is correct. The 
Psalmist says, ''Thou are not a God that hath 
pleasure in wickedness ; neither shall evil 
dwell with thee." The prophet says, ''Thou 
art of purer ej'es than to behold evil, and 
canst not look on iniquity." The language 
of the New Testament is : "What fellowship 
hath rifyhteousness with unriohteousness? and 
what co-^Jimunion hath light with darkness? 
And what concord hath Christ with Belial ? or 
what part hath he that believeth with an infi- 
del? And what agreement hath the temple 
of God with idols? for ye are the temple of 
the living God: as God hath said, I will 
dwell in them, and walk in them ; and I will 
])e their God, and they shall be my people. 
Wherefore come out from among them, and 
be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not 
the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and 
be a Father unto ;^ou, snd ye shall be my 
sons and daughters, saith the Lord Al- 
might}^" 

The church of Jesus Christ, is the tem- 
I)le of the Holy Ghost, and must be made 
and kept holy. It is said of the church, that 
"all the building fitly framed together grow- 
etli unto an holy temple in the Lord." 

The church of Christ is not simply a "build- 



OF god's people. '^5 



ing fitly framed together," but it is a ^^holy. 
temple." It is the sacred dvvellliig place of 

God. 

If we should come to a clear and deep con- 
sciousness of the fact that we are indeed 
the temple of the Holy Ghost, that God, the 
great God, the holy God, is dwelling and 
walking in the church of which we are mem- 
bers, would we not cry out with Jacob waking 
from his dream,' 'surely God was in this place 
and I knew it not. How dreadful ib this 
place! It is none other than the house of 
God and the gate of heaven ?" 

Since God has condescended to build his 
people up into a holy temple and dwell in 
them, how vigilant ought they be to purify 

the temple. 

If you should undertake to fit up for your- 
self a dwelling which had been the abode of 
eareless and filthy tenants, two things would 
be required before the house would be ready 
for your occupation. In the first place it 
would need to be deansecL You would not 
be wiUing to enter it and dwell in it until it 
had undergone a thorough renovation. But 
simply a renovation would not make it a de- 
sirable or convenient dwelling place. It must, 
in the second place, be/arraV^ec?. It might 



7G SCiaPTUKE EMBLEMS 

bo never so clean niicl yet be very desolate. 
It must have certain things j^ut into it as well 
?.s certain things t^iken out of it before it can 
be a desirable dwelling ])lace. 

This double preparation does the church of 
Christ need in order to be a ''holy temple" 
unto the Lord. The absence of sin is not 
holiness. Iloliness is something real and pos- 
itive, and does not consist simply in the ab- 
sence of sin Not only must the ''w^orks of 
the flesh'' be removed from the temple, biit 
''the fruit of the Spirit" must be brought into 
it. 
1. This temple must be deansecL 

God dwells in those who cry out with the 
Psalmist, ''Cleanse thou me from secret 
faults ;" "Purge me with hyssop and I shall be 
clean ; wash me and I shall be Vy^hiter than 
snow;" and with the apostle, "Who shall de- 
liver me from the body of this death?" Such 
souls constitute the temple of the Holy Ghost. 
God dwells in them, and he hears the cry of 
their sin burdened hearts, and cleanses them 
from their defilement. 

When we entertain friends in our dwellings 
vre are careful not to grieve or offend them. 
We avoid unpleasant topics in conversation. 
If there were a picture or a statue upon tlie 



OF god's people. 77 

wall ^vhicll we knew would recall painful rec- 
ollections we would take it down. Our in- 
terest in our friends, our regard for their feel- 
ings, would constrain us to remove those 
tliinQ:s from their presence which would mar 
their enjoyment and tempt them to cut short 
their stay with us. We would try to have our 
dwellings at least free from offensive things. 

Shall w^e have more regard for our friends, 
who are sinful mortals like ourselves, than for 
our God and Heavenly Father? It is a con- 
descension for the Holy Ghost to dwell in the 
cleanest and best kept heart on earth ; and as 
he hates sin v/ith a perfect hatred it is no w^on- 
der if he makes but few: cheering displays of 
himself in the hearts of those who strive but 
little to be free from moral pollution. 

When the Christian believes himself to be 
the temple of God, believes that the Holy 
Ghost dwells in him, what pains he ought to 
take to keep the temple clean. The heart 
has in it, naturally, man3^ things wdiich are 
very offensive to the Spirit of God. There 
are thoughts w^hich are unclean and unholy. 
The vile and polluted imaginings of the hu- 
man heart are loathsome things to God. The 
Holy Ghost is grieved to meet with sordid 
and sensual pi^ssions in our hearts. Pride, 



78 SCRIPTURE EMBLEMS 

and worldliness, and hatred are things to be 
driven from our hearts as Christ drove the 
profane traders and mone}' changers out of 
Jerusalem's holy temple. Every unholy 
thought or passion or imagination that enters 
the Christian's heart is a profane intruder in 
the temple of God. 

Do we in our prayers, ask God to come into 
his tcnple and dwell there, and then walk be- 
fore him arm in arm with his enemies, — evil 
thoughts, evil desires, evil feelings, worldli- 
ness, pride, selfishness and a host of other 
children of darkness? Is this the way to en- 
tertain the Holy Spirit ? Is this the way to se- 
en re his presence and constrain him to abide 
with us forever? 

That moral pollution represented in the 
Bible b}' ^«epulchres lull of dead men's bones, 
and of all unclennness,' is a loathsome thing 
in the sight of God to have brought into his 
temple. 

Would a drunkard, scented with the fumes 
of rum, be a defilement to your best room? 
Would you feel that the atmosphere of your 
parlor would be contaminated by the presence 
of a base libertine ? 

These polluting beings would better grace 
your most trsty rocms than do the sins 



OF god's people. 79 

that lurk in our hearts the temple of God in 
which the Holy Spirit has taken up his abode. 

The practice of any known sin, the omis- 
sion of any known duty will defile the temple 
of God. 

How much mortified we would be to have 
our best friends come into our homes and find 
them all filled with things which were offensive 
and loathsome to them. We are careful of 
the feelings of our friends. We study to 
please them. 

Then when the Spirit of God dwells in us as 
his temple, that Spirit which is as pure as holi- 
ness itself, how careful ought we be to put 
out of the temple and to keep out of the tem- 
ple every polluted and polluting thing, and to 
write upon the door-posts of our hearts, once 
for all, ''Holiness to the Lord." 

If 3^ou were to invite a dear friend, who had 
had a son murdered, to come to your house 
for a visit, would you have upon the wall of the 
room in which you entertained that friend a 
picture of the murderer, and upon your cen- 
ter table, among 3^our choicest relics, the blood- 
stained weapon with which the guilty deed was 
done? Would this be the arrangement you 
would make for the entertainment of your 
friend ? Would it not be downright disrespect, 



80 SCRIPTURE EMBLEMS 

and an outrage upon bis teelings to keep these 
mournful things before his eyes? Would you 
not grieve his heart, wound his feelings and 
tempt him to take an early departure with a 
fixed purpose never to return ? Would he not 
be likely to think that you had some sympathy 
with the foul deed which bereaved him of a 
beloved son? Why else give these relics a 
place among your choice treasures? 

It might seem as if such ciime were too 
dark and too gross to be laid to the charge of 
any respectable man in a Christian land. But 
how much better is it to invite God to come 
and make his abode in your heart, when, be- 
hold ! there are in your heart the murderers of 
his onl^^-begotten Son, — the sins that nailed 
his well beloved to the cross ? 

It was sin that slew our Lord ; and not the 
sin alone of those who lived eighteen hundred 
years ago, but your sin and mine. These 
sins with which you and I are so familiar, help- 
ed to lift up that cruel crown of thorns and 
place it on the Savior's head ; helped to clench 
the hammer and drive the nails which murder- 
ed God's well-beloved Son. Away from our 
hearts with these polluting sins! Away with 
the murderers of our Lord ! 

Sui>po5c that living near yon, there should 



OF god's people. 81 

be half a dozen persons of low character, 
and all of them your bitter enemies ; and 
that some neighbor should invite you to 
spend the day with him, and after he had po- 
litely received and seated you, these en- 
emies of 3'Ours should present themselves 
at the door, and your neighbor should re- 
ceive them with just as much cordiality as 
he had received you, and should spend the 
day walking up and down the room before 
you, arm in arm with them, seeming to en- 
joy their low mirth and profanity, and to be 
just as much at home with them as he had 
been with you. Would you not soon suspect 
him of insincerity and of disloyalty to your- 
self? Would you not conclude at once that 
the order of things in that house was not in- 
tended for your pleasure? Would you not 
soon retire from that uncongenial place? 

Wonder not then if the Holy Ghost retires 
in a large measure from your heart, leaving it 
without much comfort, without much hope, 
without mucli joy, if you are knowingly en- 
tertaining any sin. 

Do not ask God in the morning to come 
and dwell in your heart by his Spirit, impart- 
ing strength and consolation and hope, and 
then, one by one. let in anger and pride and 



82 SCRIPTCKE EMBLEMS 

selfishness, and worldliness and discontent to 
occni\v the temple of the H0I3' Ghost. 

Fut God's temple in better order than this. 
Suppress every unholy feeling ; banish every 
unchaste and impure desire. Give place to 
nothing in the temple of God upon which he 
cannot look with pleasure. 

^^3' t>y dav, through watchfulness and 
prayer, we ought to be cleansing the sacred 
edifice. There must be no reserved seats, no 
secret corner for au}^ favorite sin. Though that 
sin be as dear as a right hand or a right eye, 
we must part company with it, if we desire the 
cheering presence of the Savior in the temple. 
'^What agreement hath the temple of God 
with idols?" 

AVe cannot live in Egypt and in Canaan at 
the same time. If we expect to go to heav- 
en we must break truce with hell. If we pre- 
fer the ''pleasures of sin" to the society of 
God the choice is before us ; but let us not 
impiously attempt to bring sin and the Holy 
Ghost into partnership. There is no fellow- 
ship between them. We might as successful- 
ly attempt to unite heaven and hell in mar- 
riage as to compromise sin and the IIolj^ 
Ghost in our heaits. Sin is the one thing 
which God hates. Then -'grieve not the 



OF god's PEOi'LE. 83 

Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed unto the 
day of redemption/' by allowing sin in his 
temple. 

2. But we have said that it is not enough 
that the temple be cleansed ; it must be far- 
nished. 

Of all the furniture which we set up, that 
which we bring into the temple of God should 
be the most select. Of all the adornments 
which we attempt let those which we bring 
into the temple of God be the brightest. 
"The ornament of a meek and quiet spirit** 
"is in the sight of God of great price.'' 
The graces, or fruits of the Spirit, will adorn 
the temple and be pleasing to God. 

A praying spirit is an acceptable furnish- 
ing for the temple of the Holy Ghost, — a 
8])irit which delights in supplication and 
praise, — in communion with God. That 
would be a cold room, into which our friends 
should invite us, and then leave us to our- 
fielves. When wc enter the homes of our frienc s 
it is that we may have intercourse with them. 
We desire their society. When we meet God 
in his temple he desires that we hold com- 
munion with him. His Son spent the whol 3 
night in prayer unto him ; and he calls upon 
us to bring into his temple a spirit of prayer. 



84 SCRIPTURE EMBLEMS OF GOD's PEOPLE. 

Faith is another grace with which we must v 
furnish the temple of the Holy Ghost, with- 
out faith it is impossible to please God. ''He 
that Cometh to God must believe that he is, 
and that he is a rewarder of them that dili- 
gently seek him." Faith must be found in his 
temple. 

Love to God is another grace with which 
to furnish the temple. "Thou shalt love the 
Lord thy God with all thy heart." 

Love to the children of God is a grace to be 
kept in the temple of the Holy Ghost. ''Be- 
loved if God so loved us we ought also to love 
one another." 

Humility is a grace which adorns the tem- 
ple of God. "Be clothed w^ith humility: for 
God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to 
the humble. Humble yourselves therefore 
under the mighty hand of God, that he may 
exalt you in due time." 

Brethren and sisters in the Lord Jesus 
Christ,are we, by the grace of God,* purifying 
the temple of the Holy Ghost, and furnishing 
it with the graces of the Spirit? 



CHAPTER VL 

god's people as branches of a vine. 

/ am the vine^ ye are the branches. 

John 15 : 5. 

This passage, taken in connection with the 
context, suggests to us, 

I. That the christian receives his spirit- 
ual LIFE from: CHRIST. 

II. That the christian partakes of the 

NATURE OF CHRIST. 

I, The CHRISTIAN RECEIVES HLS SPIRITUAL 
LIFE FROM CHRIST. 

It is not difficult to unierstand that the 
branch derives its life from the vine upon which 
and out of ^^hich it grows. The fluids which 
are drawn up from the earth by the vine and 
which run tlirough it, giving it life and leaves, 
run outward through the branches also and 
give them their life and leaves. "The branch 
<5annot bear fruit of itself except it abide in 
the vine." It cannot bear even leaves ex- 
cept it abide in the vine. It cannot even live 
6 



SG SCEirTUlJE EMBLESIS 

except it abide in the vine. The branch that 
has been severed from the vipc is a dead 
branch. 1 he leaves wither, the fruit shrivel?, 
the fluids dry out of the branch and it is dead. 

The soul that is not united to Christ by 
faith, is a dead soul, — ''deal in trespasses 
and sins," and except it receives life from 
Chribt it remains dead. '^He that abideth 
not in me,'' says Christ, '4s cast forth as a 
branch and is withered. '' He is the source of 
the soul's spiritual life. He is ''the wa^^, the 
truth and thp life." 

In spiritnal things the sonl is by nature 
detid, and unless Christ imparts life to it it 
mil remain dead. No branch severed from 
the vine and lying in the withering sun was 
ever more dead than is the soul to divine 
things until Christ sends into it a vital energy 
which is life from the dead. 

The bleak, bald rock, washed for ages by 
the waters of old ocean ; the girdled tree with 
its bare, leafless limbs reaching out into the 
pelting, blasting storms is not more destitute 
of vegetable life than is the soul of spiritual 
life until it is united by faith to Christ. No 
power but the power of Christ can give itlife^ 

What is there other than the vine that can 
give life to the branches? Can you take tbe 



OF god's people. 8? 

branch away from the vine and preserve its 
life? Can you feed it with the juices of the 
apple-tree? Can you nourish it with milk? 
Separation from the vine means death to the 
branch. So does separation from Christ mean 
death to the soul. No signs of spiritual life 
can be found in a Christless soul. There is 
no true love to God. There is no joy in spirit- 
ual thinors. There is no delio;ht in the servi<-e 
of God. There is no communion of the soul 
with God. These things can no more exist 
in the soul until there is a connection estab- 
lished between it and Christ than life can- ex- 
ist in the branch separated from the vine. 
Until there be this union of the soul with Christ 
there is in it not a particle of true faith, net 
one moment of Godly sorrow for sin, not a 
ra}^ of Christian hope. It is when life goes 
from him to the soul, as from the vine to the 
brancjh, that spirituality has its beginning. 

Spiritual life is not transmitted from parent 
to child. No matter how much grace parents 
jniy have in their hearts none is ever inherit- 
ed by their offspring. We have great reason 
to hope that the children of faithful, pious par- 
ents will become Christians, through the sur- 
rounding of pious influences and the prayer 
of faith. ''The promise,*' says the word 



88 SCRIPTURE E31BLEMS 

of God, '4s to you and to your children." 
But when the children of pious parents become 
Christians, the grace Avhich makes them such 
comes not from the parents, but direct!}' from 
Christ, as the Hfe of the branch from the 
vine. 

Of the "sons of God'' it is said that they 
''were born, not of blood, nor of the will of 
the flesh, nor of the ^ill of man. but of God." 
Ciulst says to Nicodemus, ''That which is 
born of the flesh is flesh ; and that which is 
born of the Spirit is spirit." 

Nothing that is spiritual over comes through 
natural generation. * -That which is born of 
the flesh is flesh. ' ' No grace descends through 
blood. Christianity is not hereditary. The 
apostle Paul, while in the flesh, was assured 
that his spiritual life was from Christ. He 
says, "The life which I now live in the flesh I 
live by the faith of the Son of God who loved 
me and gave himself for me." 

Again, grace cannot be handed down from 
father to son, as other treasures are bequeathed. 
When a Christian man writes out his last will 
and testament, and apportions his goods among 
liLi heirs, there is not a syllable in the docu- 
ment about the interest in Christ which that 
Christian father possesses. That which is of 



OF god's PEOl'LE. 89 

the most value, that which is worth teu thou- 
sand times more than all his other treasures, 
he cannot leave to his children. As good and 
as great a man as was David he could be- 
queath no grace to Absalom. Eli, though a 
prophet of the Lord, could not transfer his 
piety to his wicked sons. All grace must 
come directly from Christ. ''I am the vine" 
says he, "ye are the branches.'' From what 
source can the branches draw their life other 
than the vine ? Some wealthy relative may 
make you independent^ rich by transferring 
to you the titles of his estate; but ''grace, 
mercy and peace" you will find only in the 
will and testament of your Lord and Savior 
Jesus Christ. 

Spiritual gifts cannot be bought with the 
precious things of earth. Simon Magus, who 
probably could have bought out all the earth- 
ly store of a great many of God's poor people, 
made a sad mistake when he offered the apos- 
tles ''money, saying, Give me also this power, 
that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may re- 
ceive the Holy Ghost." ''Peter said unto him. 
Thy money perish with thee, because thou 
hast thought that the gift of God may be 
purchased with money." 

Many precious things can be bought with 



90 SCRIPTURE EMBLEMS 

money. The life of a captive, or the liberty* 
of a prisoner may sometimes he put in the 
balances with money, and an equivalent be 
weighed out for them. . But once more we re-r 
peat it, for spiritual life, we must go to 
Christ. The branch must draw its life from 
the vine. 

Blessed be God for this abundant source ; 
that he from whom we draw our spiritual life 
is a vine, the virtue of which, we never can exr 
haust. With him giving doth not impoverish 
nor withholding make rich. The branches 
never over-draw the strength of this vine. 
The more spiritual life and spiritual strength 
we draw from Christ the better is he pleased. 
He desires the branches to abide in him, to be 
strong,/ vigorous and fruitful. We are invited 
to come /to Christ boldl}^ God said to his 
ancient people., '* Open thy mouth wide, and 
I will fill it.'' : 

There is but one way to obtain spiritual 
life ; but that one way is enough. There is but 
one source of spiritual life; but all the world 
cannot exhaust that source. If all the world 
should at this hour lift up a cry to Christ for 
spiritual life there would be a full supply for 
a'i. He who said to his disciples, "I am the 
vine and ye are the branches'' is able to make 



OF god's people. 91 

all grace abound toward you ; that 3'e, always 
hnviug all sufficiency in all things, may abound 
to every good work." 

IE. The christian partakes of the na- 
ture OF CHRIST. 

Peter, in his second Epistle, says, "Grace 
a'ld peace be multiplied unto you through 
the knowledo'e of God, and of Jesus our Lord 
according as his divine power hath given lui- 
to us all things that pertain unto life and god- 
liness, through the knowledge of him that hath 
called us to glory and virtue : whereby are 
given unto us exceeding great and precious 
promises: that by these ye mighthe partakers 
of the divine nature^ having escaped the cor- 
ruption that is in the world through lust." 

The branch is certainly partaker of the na- 
ture of the vine. There is no reason wh}^ it 
should not be. It could not be otherwise. 
It never had an existence until it grew out of 
the vine. It had its origin in the vine. The 
vine put it forth, the vine fed it, and fed it 
with the same nourishment with v/hich it was 
itself ted. It is, as it were, begotten of the 
viup, and begotten in the same likeness. Some 
of the characteristics of the vine are to be 
found in the branches. Do you find upon the 
vine a peculiar kind of bark? You find the 



92 SCRIPTUHE EMBLEMS 

same on the branches. Is there a j ec-uliar 
taste in the wood of the vine? Tiie same taste 
is in the branches. Does the Avood of the vine 
have a pecuhar color and texture? The same 
peculiar color and texture are found in tlie 
branches. Is there a peculiar kind of leaf on 
the vine? The same kind of leaf is on the 
branches. Is there a peculiar kind of fluid 
running through the vine? The same kind 
of fluid runs tlirough the branches. 

Ail these peculiar characteristics which dis- 
tinguish these branches from tlie oak, or the 
cherry, are given to it In^ the vine. It is em- 
phatically a partaker of the nature of the vine. 
When the vine gives to the branch its own life 
it gives also its own characteristics. This is 
in accordance with the law impressed upon 
Nature, when God said," "Let the earth bring 
foith grass, the herb yielding seed, and the 
fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose 
seed is in itself , upon the earth." IIow as- 
tonished we would be to see the vine shooting 
forth branches of a dozen kinds, — a branch of 
elm, a branch of hickory, a branch of locust, 
etc., as if the principle of like producing like 
did not exist in the vine. Such monstrosities 
do not occur in nature. The branch has the 
same nature as the vine. 



OF god's people., 93 

Christ is the ''true vine," and his disciples 
are the branches, and the branches partake of 
the nature of the vine. Christ's people are 
Christ-like. They do not simply imitate Christ, 
but they have a nature which, in its measure, 
is like the nature of Christ. 

When Christ gives a new, spiritual life to 
the soul he gives to it his own characteristics, 
just as the parent gives his own characteris- 
tics to his child, or as the vine gives its char- 
acteristics to the branches. The parent can- 
not transmit grace to the souls of his children ; 
but his own natural characteristics he does 
transmit, and they have his nature. So when 
a soul is born of God it takes some of the 
nature of God. 

The life which Christ gives to the soul is the 
awakening and kindling of new desires. New 
springs of action operate in the soul. New 
t^tes and desires are kindled in the soul, 
and these things are feeble reflections of the 
nature of Christ. Is there in Christ a delight 
in holiness? So is there in the Christian. 
Is there in Christ a spirit of meekness? So 
is there in the Christian. Is there in Christ 
a spirit of love? So is there in the Christian. 
Is there in Christ a desire for the salvation 
of souls? So is there in the Christian. I3 



u 



SCRIPTURE EMBLEMS 



there in Christ a desire for communion with 
the Father? So. is there in the Christian. Is 
there in Christ a hatred of sin? So is there 
in the Christian. Is there in Christ a spirit 
of compassion for the suffering? So is there 
in the Christian. That new life which is in him, 
and which constitutes him a Christian, is a 
life begotten of the Spirit of Christ, and must 
of necessity have the nature of Christ. God- 
begets children in his own likeness. Dear 
friend, if you have not the nature of Christ,- 
if 3'ou are not Christ-hke, you are not a branch 
of the true vine. 

We would not be understood to mean that 
when a soul is born of God there is communi* 
catevl to it the omnipotence of God, or the 
omniscience of God, or the omnipresence of 
God ; or that the soul, in any sense, becomes 
God. There are certain attributes of God 
which are incommunicable. No amount of 
grace would make a Christian omnipotent 
or omniscient ; yet grace will, nevertheless,- 
make him like Christ. The soul that abides 
in Christ, that draws its life from Clirist, m 
the branch from the vine, will have a Chnst=* 
like love, a Christ-like patience, a Christ-like 
meekness, a Christ-like compassion, a Christ- 
like resrgaation to the will of the Father, k 



OF G02>"'S PEOPLE, 95 

Ohrist-like desire for doing good and a Christ- 
like holiness. In f^et he will be a partaker 
of the divine nature. H-e will be a branch of 
the true vine ; he will resemble Christ. 

The more the soul feeds upon Christ the 
more of his nature will it possess. In a cer- 
tain sense the branch feeds upon the vine, li 
t^kes its nourishment out of the vine. In a 
sense, and an important sense, the soul of the 
Christian feeds on Christ. Christ says to his 
disciples, ''I am the living bread which came 
down from heaven : if any man eat of this 
bread he shall live forever : and the bread that 
I will give is my tlesh, which I will give for 
the life of the worlds 

The Jews therefore strove among them- 
selves, saying, How can this man give us his 
flesh to eat? Then Jesus said unto them, 
Verily verily I say unto you, Except ye eat 
the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his 
blood ye h^^ve no life in you. 

Whosoever eateth my flesh and drinketh 
ray blood hath eternal life ; and I will raise 
him up at the last day. 

For my flesh is meat indeed and my blood 
13 di'ink indeed. 

He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh ray 
blood, dwelleth in me and I in hira. 



9G SCKIPTIRE EMBLEMS 

As the living Father hath sent me, and I 
live by the Father: so he that eatcth me, even 
he shall live by me." 

Surel}^ the branch no more feeds npon the 
vine, than does the soul upon Christ. The 
doctrines of the cross are food to the Christian 
who is alive to spiritual things. He has 'meat 
to eat that the world knows not of,' — ''a 
feast of fat things ; wine on the lees and w^ell 
refined." 

We may feed upon Christ in his word. 
The doctrines and promises of the word of 
God cheer and strengthen the Christian's soul. 

Had not the Psalmist been feeding his soul 
upon the word of God when he said, ''O how 
love I th}^ law ; it is my meditation all the day ?" 
Had not he been feeding his soul on Christ in 
his word who wrote for the churches to sing: 

*'How firm a fonndatioD, ye saints of the Lord, 
Is laid for your faith in hia excelleut word?" 

Have not Christians in all ages^ when their 
faith needed to be nourished and strengthened, 
turned to the cheering, strengthening words 
of their Savior and found in them the food 
that their hungering spirits needed? ''Man 
shall not live by bread alone ;but by every word 
that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." 
As the fluids of the vine feed the branch, so 



OF god's people. 97 

do the words of Christ the hungering soul of 
the Christian, 

The soul feeds upon Christ at a throne of 
grace. When the Christian, ransomed by the 
blood of Christ, comes into communion with 
his Savior; rises above the world into the 
realm of that which is pure and holy, and 
holds converse witli the Father and with his 
Son Jesus Christ, he draws from the true vine 
spiritual food for his spiritual nature. 

The soul of the Christian draws spiritual 
nourishment from Christ in the ordinance of 
the Lord's supper. When he takes into his 
hands the emblems of a sufFering Savior, Geth- 
semane and Calvary are brought to his view. 
The compassion of his dying Lord is well 
calculated to excite his love and gratitude, and 
to awaken in his heart resolutions to live a 
life consecrated to the service of him who 
poured out his soul unto death for his salva- 
tion. The scenes of agony which bought 
his soul from the death that never dies are cal- 
culated to rein in a spirit of worldliness, and 
to strengthen the soul for duty and conflict. 

In all these things the soul feeds upon 
Christ. And as it thus feeds upon him, it 
partakes more and more of his nature, reflects 
more and more of his image, and presents 



98 SCRIPTURE EMBLEMS 

to the world more and more of his likeness* 
Being made partakers of the divine nature'' 
by a spiritual birth, and having an ever pres- 
ent Savior upon whom our souls may con« 
stantly feed their spiritual Hfe, how much of 
the nature of Christ we ought to possess. How 
much likeness we ought to bear to the vine of 
which we are the branches. Certainly w^e 
ought to possess enough of the likeness of 
Christ to make it plain to the world that we^ 
are bis disciples. 

If some one should hand you a branch taken 
from a grape-vine and ask you from what he- 
had plucked that branch, you would have, 
no difficulty in deciding upon the parent stock. 
There would be the leaves, the bari?, the 
wood, and perchance the fruit, all of which 
would remind you at once of the vine from" 
which it had been taken. So the lives of 
Christians should remind the w^orld of Christy 
for he is the vine and they are the branches. 

If we desire to draw the world to Christ 
we must show to the world the attractions of 
Christ. If we are bis followers we are partak- 
ers of his nature and we ought to let the world 
see in lis something of the nature of Christ. 
Our own sinful nature must be repressed, and 
the character of Christ exhibited in our Uves. 



• OF god's people. 99 

We must be like the vine of whieb we are tbe 
branches. In the midst of persecutions di4 
Christ show to the world a spirit of forbear- 
ance and love? So must we. When his soul 
was exceeding sorrowful, even unto death, did 
he say to the Father, ''Not my will but thine 
be done?" So we, being made partakers 
of his nature, must show to the world a spirit 
of submission to the Father's will in the hour 
of suffering. Did he pray for his enemies? 
80 must we pray for our enemies. Di<i he 
love those who hated him? So must v/e love 
those who hate us. 

Being the professed and acknowledged fol- 
lowers of Christ, we can in this way show to 
the world something of the love and beauty 
of our adorable Redeemer. 

It is an exalted privilege for sinners as un- 
worthy and imperfect as we arc to be allowed 
to represent Christ by our lives. Poor imita- 
tions are we, indeed, of Christ. It is to be 
feared that sometimes the world would scarce- 
ly suspect us of being branches of ^^the true 
vine," and ''partakers of the divine nature." 
Unworthy and imperfect creatures are we, to be 
chosen to represent the beauties of Immanuel. 

If we desire to show to the world the nature 
and character of Christ wo must abide in him. 



100 SCRIPTURE EMBLEMS OK GOD'S PEOPLE, 

^'As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself ex-^ 
cept it abide in the vine ; no more can ye," 
«ay8 Christ, ''except ye abide in me/' 

By abiding in Christ, and drawing from him 
large supplies of spiritual life, we will increase 
In those graces of which he is the source, in- 
crease in our resemblance to him, will exhibit 
more of his nature to the world. "He that 
abideth in me and I in him," says he, "bring- 
eth forth much fruit ; for without me ye can 
do nothing." 



1 1^» — 



CHAPTER VII. 

god's people as sheep. 

We are the people of his pasture^ and the 
sheep of hus hand. Psalm 95 : 7. 

When God's people are represented to us 
under the figure of sheep, there seem to come 
naturally to our minds thoughts of, 

I. A FLOCK. 

II. A SHEPHERD. 

III. A MEEK AND GENTLE DISPOSITION. 

IV. A FOLD. 

V. A PASTURE. 

I. A FLOCK. 

It is with the idea of sheep before his mind, 
I suppose,that Christ calls his people a "flock." 
He says to his disciples, ''Fear not little flock ; 
for it is your Father's good pleasure to give 
you the kingdom." 

In the thirty-fourth chapter of Ezekiel, in 
speaking of his people, God says : '"I will feed 
my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, 
saith the Lord God." 
7 



102 SCRIPTURE EMBLEMS 

And again, ^'And ye my flock, the flock of 
my pasture, are men, and I am your God, 
saith the Lord God.'^ 

It is the disposition of sheep to live in flocks. 
There are some birds and beasts which we do 
not generally find in flocks or herds. The 
hawk or the owl you may see flying alone 
through the air, or sitting solitary on his 
perch. 

The lion and the fox prowl in solitude 
through the forests. This solitude of habit is 
said to be a general characteristic of rapa- 
cious animals. It is not a characteristic of 
sheep. We find them in flocks. They do 
not live so much alone as some other animals. 
Each sheep does not live as if it w^ere the 
only sheep in the world. When we speak of 
vsheep it is customary to say, ^^A flock of 
sheep." 

Now how can the term ''flock'* be appro- 
priately applied to Christians ? Is it true that 
they resemble sheep in this respect? It is. 
But we do not mean that Christians separate 
themselves from the world and live in commu- 
nities or cities set apart especially for the 
saints. Christians and unbelievers are min- 
gled in the same cities, towns and families. 
Around the same family hearth and board are 



OF god's people. 103 

mingled the sheep and goats, the people of 
God and the children of darkness. 

But though Christians must, and do, min- 
gle more or less with unbelievers, there is a 
tendency in them to draw near to each other ; 
a tendency- in them to locate near each other. 
As there is something in the nature of sheep 
which draws them together, so is there in 
Christians. For purposes of Christian inter- 
course, and Christian worship, and Christian 
sympathy they desire to be near to each other. 
The Christians of a community come together 
and organize tliemselves into an association, 
have their names enrolled together, build a 
house of Avorship where they may meet to- 
gether, appoint seasons for these meetings 
and habitually assemble together as a flock. 
They do not assemble as human beings simply, 
but as Christians, drawn by ties that bind 
their hearts in Christian love. The gathering 
together is in the name of Christ ; they come 
togethei- because drawn by some principle 
within them, as sheep gather themselves into 
a flock. 

In the shepherd's flock the interests of the 
sheep are very much the same. The same 
pasture, the same water, the same atmosphere 
suits all the sh?ep of tho fl^^k, and as they 



104 SCRIPTURE EMBLEMS 

are peaceful among themselves it is very suit- 
able that they go in flocks. 

The sheep of Christ's fold have common 
interests which draw them together. They 
all have the same spiritual nature, enjoy the 
same spiritual food and receive it at the hand 
of the same Shepherd. God's people may 
ihcu be called sheep because they are a flock. 
By the nature of their new birth they are 
drawn toward each other. 

As sheep prefer to be with sheep rather 
than with cattle or swine or dogs, so God's peo- 
ple prefer to be with God's people rather than 
with unbelieving, unrenewed sinners. They 
are like ''birds of a feather," like sheep of the 
pasture ; they are a flock. 

II. The Shepherd. 

Where there are sheep we suppose there to 
be a shepherd. Sheep are dependent and need 
to be cared for. They need some one to lead 
them into green pastures and beside still 
waters. They need some one to stand by 
them in danger and protect them. Not one, 
who, as a hireling when he seeth the wolf 
coming leaveth the sheep and fleeth, but one 
who careth for the sheep and will protect them 
in their hour of need and danger. 

vSheop do not lay up food for themselves; 



OF god's people. 105 

neither have they much disposition to defend 
themselves against the attacks of their enemies. 

Birds are smaller and feebler than sheep, 
but they will live whether we take care of them 
or not. The bee is verj^ small, but it does not 
need our aid in order to find the flowers and 
gather its winter store. The ants are smaller 
still than the bees, but they build their ow^n 
houses and lay up their own provision. They 
are their own carpenters and quartermasters. 

The spider sets its own trap and catches its 
own game ; and the wasp fights its own battles. 
But the sheep we must take care of. They 
are dependent and defenceless. If the shep- 
herd leaves them they are likely to come to 
want, or be caught and scattered by the w^olf . 

So it is with Christ's flock, — the bravest of 
them, the best of them and all of them. When 
the Shepherd was smitten the sheep were scat- 
tered. ''They all forsook him and fled." 

The sheep of Christ's fold would not be safe 
for a single hour did not he, as a kind Shep- 
herd, w^atcli over them. 

In temporal aftairs we defend ourselves. 
We are enough like bears and lions in carnal 
things ; but when it comes to fighting s|»i rit- 
ual battles we are at once shorn of our teeth 
and claws. We need a kind and watohi'ui 



106 SCRIPTURE EMBLKMS 

Shepherd, one who '*careth for tlie sheep." 
• Such a Shepherd have God^s people. The 
Psabnist sa^^s, ''The Lord is ni}^ shepherd ; I 
shall not want : he niaketh me to Ue down in 
green pastures ; he ler.deth me beside the still 
waters." 

Christ sa3^s, '*! am the good sliepherd: the 
good shepherd givetli his life for the sheep." 
And again, I am the good shepherd, and know 
my sheep and am known of mine." 

( Tirist is not only the Shepherd of his sheep, 
but he is the ,7.9.9c? Shepherd. lie is the kind 
Shepherd. The prophet Isaiah, in speaking 
of the Lord says: ''He shall feed his flock 
bke a shepherd : he shall gather the lambs 
with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and 
shall gently lead those that are with young." 

What a tender and merciful Shepherd : "He 
shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry 
them in his bosom." 

The Lord, through his prophet, says, "Be- 
hold I even I will both search my sheep and 
f^eek them out. As a shepherd seeketh out his 
flock in the day that he is among his sheep that 
are scattered : so will I seek out my sheep, 
and will deliver them out of all places w^here 
they have been scattered in the cloudy and 
dark day. And I will bring them out from 



OF god's people. 107 

the people, and gather them from the coun- 
tries, and will bring them to their own land, 
and feed. them upon the mountains of Israel, 
by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places 
of the country. I will feed them in a good 
pasture, and upon the high mountains of Is- 
rael shall their fold be ; there shall they lie in 
a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they 
feed upon the mountains of Israel. I will feed 
my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, 
saith the Lord God. And I wdll seek that 
which W'as lost, and bring again that which 
was driv^en away, and will bind up that w^hich 
was broken, and will strengthen that which 
was sick." 

How many feeble ones there are in the fold 
of Christ ; how many that need to be gathered 
in the Shepherd's arm and carried in his bo- 
som. How many that go astray and need a 
kind and patient Shepherd to seek them and 

bring them home. The Psalmist says: ''I 
have gone astray like a lost sheep ; seek thy 
servant ; for I do not forget thy command- 
ments. 

Who of us does not have occasion to say, 
with shame and sorrow, and that over and 
over again, ''I have gone astray like a lost 
sheep?" 



108 SCRIPTURE EMBLEMS 

We need a "good Shepherd," a faithful, a 
loving, and a patient Shepherd, and such a 
Shepherd is Christ. He has said ''The good 
Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep;" and 
for his sheep he did lay down his life. 

Justice, like a hungry wolf, was pursuing 
the flock, and our Shepherd, the Lord Jesus 
Christ, gave himself up, to satisfy its demands, 
just as a sheplierd would allow the hungry 
Avolves to satisf}^ their appetites upon his own 
flesh and blood that the sheep of his fold 
.might not be torn in i^ieces and devoured. 

Christ was no hireling Shepherd, who, when 
he saw the wolf coming, would leave the sheep 
to be caught and destroj^ed. He stood be- 
tween us and dano:er. ''He w^as bruised for 
our iniquities and b}' his stripes we were heal- 
ed." Blessed souls are they who can say 
with God's servant of old, "The Lord is my 
Shepherd." 

We need to be protected from the power of 
the evil one w^ho, "as a roaring lion, walketh 
about, seeking whom he ma}^ devour." There 
are none of us able to cope with the adversa- 
ries of our souls alone. How man}^ have been 
swept away into everlasting darkness who 
would not be led and protected by Christ as a 
Shepherd. He would have gathered them in 



OF god's people. 109 

his arm and carried them m his bosom, but 
they "would not." He would have made them 
to lie down in green pastures and have led them 
beside still waters, but they "would not." 

How they sin against their own souls, and 
"treasure up wrath against the day of wrath," 
who refuse to to be gathered in the arm, and 
carried in the bosom of so kind, so good a 
Shepherd as the Lord Jesus Christ ! 

Ill, A MEEK AND GEKTLE DISPOSITION. 

A meek and gentle disposition is a charac- 
teristic of sheep. Not that every sheep at 
all times exhibits these amiable traits, but, in 
the main they are characteristic of sheep. 

These dispositions are characteristic of 
God's people. Not that every Christian at 
all times exhibits these amiable traits, but, 
in the main they are characteristic of God's 
people. 

God's people are followers of a meek and 
lowly Savior. He says: "Learn of me ; for I 
am meek and lowl}'' in heart." It is said of 
him in Isaiah: "He was oppressed, and he 
was afflicted, 3'et he opened not his mouth: 
he is brought as a lamb to the slaugiiter, and 
as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he 
openeth not his mouth." 
^ Peter speaking of him says, ''Who when he 



J 10 SCRIPTURE KMur^E^rs 

T\'as reviled, reviled not again ; when he suf- 
fered, be threatened not; but committed him- 
self to bim that judgeth righteously." 

Christ was meek and gentle in liis disposi- 
tion ; and, as his people are made partakers 
of his nature, they partake of his meekness? 
and gentleness. 

Christ's relio'ion transforms his followers 
into his own likeness. It subdues unholy and 
turbulent passions and tames the wild nature. 

There are some wild and unruly sheep in 
God's flock ; but it is the nature of the grace 
of God to tame and subdue. It chansres the 
lion-like spirit into that of the lamb. 

The prophet, in speaking of a time when Ihe 
subduing pov>'er of the gospel should be might- 
il}^ felt in the world, says: ''The wolf also 
shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard 
shall lie down with the kid ; and the calf and 
the 3'oung lion and the fatling together ; and 
a child shall lead them. And the cow and the 
bear shall feed ; their young ones shall lie 
down together ; and the lion shall eat straw 
like the ox. And the sucking child shall play 
upon the hole of the asp, and the weaned 
child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den. 
They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my 
holy mountain: for the w^orld shall be full of 



OP god's people. Ill 

the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters 
cover the sea." 

Such is the tendency of the gospel among 
those who embrace it. It makes them dwell 
together in harmony, quieting and subduing 
the ferocities of a turbulent nature. 

Men of strong passions and quarrelsome 
habits may, by the subduing grace of God, be 
made as quiet and peaceable as a flock of 
sheep, or the sportive lambs gamboling on the 
green. 

Saul of Tarsus is an example of one sub- 
dued by the grace of God. He w^as a sworri 
enemy of the disciples of Christ. We find 
him on the road to Damascus for the pur- 
pose of entering the fold, and wony ing the 
sheep, — intending to catch them and carry 
them to some wolf's den. But Christ met 
him on the way, converted him and put him 
into the sheep-fold; and though some of the 
sheep, as we might expect, were afraid of him 
at first, we soon read that he is ''with them 
coming in and going out at Jerusalem." 

Paul the apostle is a very different man 
from Saul of Tarsus. In the service of sin he 
was a prowling beast of prey. In the service 
of Christ he was a peaceable sheep. 

If you will let your mind run back over the 



112 SCRIPTURE EMBLEMS 

histories of some of God's people of your 
own acquaintance you will probably fi'id in- 
stances of persons who were rude, coarse, 
disagi^eeable sinners ; persons who, on account 
of their fiery dispositions, and reckless, un- 
guarded ways, you almost dreaded to meet ; 
but who, since they have become Christ's 
sheep, are subdued and quiet in their ways, 
and Iamb-like in their dispositions ? 

This spirit, which it is the nature of the gos- 
pel to produce, is well pleasing to God, and 
brings a blessing to his people. '^Blessed 
are the meek ; for they shall inherit the earth." 

IV. A FOLD. 

Christ says, ''And other sheep I have 
which are not of this fold : them also I must 
bring, and they shall hear my voice : and there 
shall be one fold and one Shepherd." There 
is then a ''fold" as well as a ''flock." 

A fold is an enclosure for the protection of 
the sheep. It has walls round about the 
sheep to prevent the wolf from breaking in 
upon them. 

The people of God's pasture and the sheep 
of his hand have, as it were, walls round about 
them for their protection. "As the moun- 
tains," says the Psalmist, "are round about 
Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about them 



OF god's people. 113 

that fear him, and delivereth them." And 
again, '^The angel of the Lord encampetli 
round about them that feai* him, and deliver- 
eth them." 

The following words of the Psalmist are 
full of comfort to God's people, and suggest- 
ive of the protection which he throws around 
them: "He that dwelleth in the secret place 
of the Most Hioh shall abide under the shad- 
ow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, 
He is my refuge and my fortress : my God ; 
in him will I trust. Surely he shall deliver 
thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the 
noisome pestilence. Lie shall cover thee with 
his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou 
trust: his truth shall be th}^ shield and buck- 
ler. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by 
night ; nor for the arrow that flieth by day ; 
nor for the pestilence that w^alketh iu dark- 
ness ; nor for the destruction that wasteth at 
noon day. A thousand shall fall at thy side, 
and ten thousand at thy right hand ; but it 
shall not come nigh thee. Only with thine 
eye shalt thou behold and see the reward of 
the wicked. Because thou hast made the 
Lord w^hich is my refuge, even the Most High, 
thy habitation; there shall no evil befall 
thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy 
dwelling. 



Ill SCRIPTURE EMBLEMS 

Docs not the Lord furnish a fold of protec- 
tion for the shec}) of his flock? His watchful 
eye is ever upon them and his arms are ever 
around them. -'He that keepeth thee»" says 
the Psalmist, ''will not slumber. Behold, 
he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber 
nor sleep. The l^ord is thy keeper : the Lord 
is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun 
shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by 
night. The Lord shall preserve thee from all 
evil: he shall preserve thy soul. The Lord 
shall preserve thy going out and thy coming 
in from this time forth and even for ever- 
more." 

This love, and watchfulness ; this sleepless 
care and protection which God exercises, are 
like the walls of a strono fold built around 
the sheep of his hand and the people of his 
pasture. Blessed are they who are in it. No 
beast of prey, no roaring lion, can break 
through upon the flock when folded in the 
protecting arms of him wlio never slumbers 
nor sleeps. The arms of the Shepherd make a 
strong and suflacient fold for all the sheep of 
his defenceless flock. 

And will he permit his fearful, trembling 
ones to lie in his arms for protection ? Hear 
this ye trembling sheep, panting with fear or 



OF god's people. 115 

distress: ''The eternal God is thy refuge, 
and underneath aixi the everlasting arms." 

David never led his sheep into a better, 
safer fold at night than this. 

No shepherd ever built a fold that furnish- 
ed such blessed rest and sure protection as 
the arms, the strong arms, "the everlastivg 
arms*' of the good Shepherd. He says ''I 
give unto them eternal hfe : and they shall 
never perish, neither shall any man pluck 
them out of my hand." Thrice blessed are 
they who are folded in "the everlasting 
arms." 

V. A PASTURE. 

The Psalmist, in speaking of the Lord as his 
Shepherd, says, "He maketh me to lie down 
in green pastures ; he leadeth me beside the 
still waters." 

He who undertakes to keep sheep, has for 
them, not onlj^ a fold, but a pasture. The 
sheep must not only be protected, but fed. 

Is there pasture for God's sheep? Some 
stay out of the fokl of Christ as if they 
thought there Avere no provision made to meet 
the hunger and thirst of the flock. 

Not only is there pasture for Christ's sheep 
but there is good pasture. The paths of the 
Shepherd "drop fatness." 



116 SCRIPTURE EMBLEMS OK GOD'S PEOPLE. 

God makes his sheep to lie down in green 
pastures. They are not brown, withered and 
barren pastures. The provision which the 
good Shepherd makes for his sheep, is a rich 
and satisfying provision. The poet says: 

* 'Blest Jesus, what delicious fare, 
How sweet thy entertainments are.*' 

There is no provision other than that found 
in the gospel which can satisfy the souls of 
God's people. 

The song of those who have tried the pas- 
tures of this world is, 

' 'People of the living God, 
I have sought the world around, 
Paths of sin and sorrow trod. 
Peace and comfort nowhere f jundj 
Now my spirit turns to you, 
Turos a fugitive unblest, 
Brethren, where your alter bums, 
O receive me into rest. * ' 

Only in the provisions of the gospel dear 
friend, can you find an^^ thing to satisfy the 
"hunger and thirst of your immortal soul. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



god's people a family. 



Of whom the ivhole family in heaven and 
earth is named. Eph, 3:15, 

In comparing the people of God with a fam- 
ily let us notice, 

I. Family ties. 

II. The family name. 

III. Family possessions. 

IV. Family joys and sorrows. 

The word "family" is a word fraught with 
great and precious interests. The famity is 
a little private community. It has interests 
which are peculiar to itself, — pleasures with 
which "a stranger doth not intermeddle." 

It is a little circle where confidence is en- 
joyed ; where "charity suffereth long and is 
kind;" w^here weakness and imperfection are 
covered up from the world. 

In the family, affection may exercise iiself 
8 



118 SCRIPTURE EMBLEMS 

'v^ithout being afraid of the proprieties of so- 
ciety, or the cold and unsympatbizing gaze of 
the world without. 

Let us notice some of the resemblances ex- 
isting between God's people and the family 
cir(3le. 

1. FAIVnLT TIES. 

There are ties which bind the members of 
one family into close confederation. The 
four walls that enclose that little group shut 
out the world's cold and curious stare ; and 
though the passers by may see the mellow light 
that streams out upon the pavement, and hear 
the melody of voices withh:i, they are not con- 
scious of the strong and tender bonds that 
make all the inmates of that room one. 

The members of this little group are bone of 
each other's bone and flesh of each other's 
flesh, and by natural ties are drawn towards 
each other and bound to each other as to no 
one else in the world. 

Now the church of God, both in heaven and 
on earth, is called by this precious and sig- 
nificant name, family. 

This name at once throws a charm in- 
to the thought of being a child of God. To 
be one of the people of God is to belong to 
the most blessed family that ever hrd an ex- 



OF god's people. 119 

istence. The famil}^ of God has in it the best 
people on earth, and the saints already in glo- 
ry. The text says : ''Of whom the whole fam- 
ily in heaven and earth is named." 

It is the nature of the religion of Christ's 
family to bind its members together in close 
relation, to unite them in bonds of affection, 
as the members of one household. They have 
a common parentage, — one God and Father, 
and children of the same Father must be broth- 
ers and sisters. 

We do not find children, as soon as they 
arrive at years of understanding, straying off 
into strangle families, having: no attachment 
for each other, no regard for the family rela- 
tion. They cling together, they protect each 
other, they take comfort in each other. Night 
falls and finds them around one hearth stone. 
The}^ are drawn together and bound together 
by family ties. They are careful of each 
other's comfort and jealous of each other's 
good name. How quickly and keenly would 
a brother's heart be stung should a sister be- 
come the object of some villain's scandal. 
How a husband's heart would be pierced 
should he hear the good name of his wife 
reproached. A^^ould he not say to the of- 
fender, 'He that toucheth her toucheth the 



120 SCKirXUKE EMr>LE:\l:3 

apple of mine eye?' There are ^i^'-ng iies 
which bind the ineinbcrs of an earir]j\ hoiioe- 
hold into a little community of its own. 

Now by the nature of the Christian i-eligion 
the members of the houseliohl of God iu-e 
bound into one family. They ^ire brothers 
and sisters in Christ. As children under one 
roof, they have similar experiences; they i-ie 
interested in the same things ; they mingle to- 
gether and talk of the same Savior ; their 
Christian life is nourished by the same spirit- 
ual food. They have a fjimily dialect, ai d 
speak a language which the world can neither 
speak nor understand. The world cannot 
pronounce the ' 'shibboleth" of the family of 
God. It is only those who have been born 
again, and born into the family of God who 
can speak the Christian's language ; and as 
nations or tribes are bound together by the 
peculiarities of their own dialects, so are the 
people of God bound together by that pecul- 
iarit}" of their dialect which distinguishes them 
from all the world besides.. Christ reveals 
himself to them as he does not to the world ; 
he speaks to them as he does not to the world, 
and hence they know things of which the 
world cannot speak, because it knows nothing 
of them. 



OF god's people. 121 

^¥|iat do they know of the meaning of the 
hymn ; 

' ' Blest 1)0 the tie that "binds 
Our hearts in Christian love'?** 

What meanino; is there to them in the ex- 
pressions, ' 'communion of believers," "un- 
ion with Christ," ''indwelling of the Spirit," 
and ''joy in the Hol}^ Ghost?" 

Tliese expressions are suggestive of Chris- 
tian experience. They are peculiarities of the 
dialect of the family of God. 

There is a oneness of parentage, of dialect, 
of understanding, of feeling and of interests 
wliich makes the people of God one family. 

The ties of this family are not severed by 
death. The text says : ''Of whom the whole 
family in heaven and earth is named." 

* 'Part of the host have crossed the flood, 

And ];art are crossing now; 
Ard we are to the mar<-in come 

A'^d soon exiect to go.*' 

The members of God's family are on both 
sides of Jordon. Tlie narrow stream which 
lies between them cannot sever the ties whit^i 
make them one. 

We do not erase from our family records 
the names of those who pass before us to the 
spirit land. We mark the spot where their 
Dodies lie. The marble slab, the green turf 



122 SCRIPTURE EMBLEMS 

and the modest flower all show thai w^e still 
cherish in the family circle of earth, the names 
of those who have passed away. 

We s^^mpathize with the '4ittle cottage 
girP' who insisted that of brothers and sisters 
there were seven. Though two of them in 
Conway dwelt, and two were gone to sea, and 
two were in the church yard laid, 

' 'The little maid would have her way, 
And said, 'J^ay, master we are seven. '*' 

Thus do we feel about our divided families. 
Though some of them "'in the church yard 
lie,'' w^e do not strike their names from the 
f amilv record. 

So also is it with the people of God ; 

' 'One family we dwell in him, 

Above, on eaith, beneath, 
Though now divided by the stream, 
The narrow stream of death. ^' 

Whenever you take a Christian by the hand 
do you recognize the fact that you grasp the 
h ind of a member of your own family ? There 
are ties which make every Christian one with 
evei^ other Christian on earth and in heaven. 

II. The family name. 

Every family among us has a name, a fam- 
ily name. These little groups into which the 
human race is divided are distinguished from 
each other bv their name. 



OF god's people. 123 

The people of God have a family name. 
The various branches of the family have va- 
rious names ; but Christian is the name of the 
whole household. "The disciples were first 
called Christians at Antioch.'' 

Christian is the name of every child of God, 
and it is an honorable name. It certainly is 
an honor to be called for Christ, to be named 
after him. Is it an honor to bear the name of 
some one who has had an illustrious career? 
Who has done great deeds and won bright 
laurels? The Christian is named after him 
whose natal song was sung by angels, who went 
up and down Palestine attended by admiring 
and astonished crowds ; who turned the water 
into wine, healed the leper,opened blind eyes, 
multiplied the bread and fish, stilled the stormy 
sea, raised the dead to life and died to save 
mankind . 

Child of God, are you ashamed of your 
name? ashamed to be called for Christ? Is 
it any reproach to be called a Christian ? 

Sometimes the family name may fall into 
reproach. Ancestors may have been guilty 
of such deeds of sham3 that their descendants 
would fain change their name, because it has 
become a hissing and a by-word. But, dis- 
ciples of Christ, d) yoa ever need to blush at 



124 SCRIPTURE EMBLEMS 

any of the deeds of bim whose name 3'ou bear? 
If Christ is not ashamed to call ns brethren 
we need not be ashamed to be called Chris- 
tians. Blessed are they who bear the family 
name of the people of God. They are named 
after hira whose ''name," we are told, '4s 
above every name.'' 

Ill, Family Possessions. 

A family has possessions. Farms and lots 
and houses and money are not owned by 
people generally- . They mostly belong to par- 
ticular families. 

There are not many families so poor but 
that they have some family possessions, some- 
thing that does not belong to the community 
at large. It ma}' be much or little, but it is a 
family possession. 

It is thus with the famil}'- of God. They 
have possessions which do not belong to the 
people of the world, — possessions such as the 
people of the world do not have. 

The peace of conscience which God's peo- 
ple enjoy is a treasure which the man of the 
world does not find among his earthly goods. 
''There is no peace, saith my God, to the wick- 
ed." •'The wicked are like the troubled sea, 
when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up 
mire and dirt." Whatever else the man of 



OF god's people. 125 

the world may have, surely peace of conscience 
is not among his possessions. Peace is a 
blessed legacy left by Christ to the family of 
God, and to none others. Christ was speak- 
ing to the family of God when he said, 
''Peace I leave with you ; my peace I give 
unto you." 

Men of the world may own broad fields and 
have much gold in bank. They may add 
house to house and farm to farm, they may 
wear soft clothing and live in king's houses, 
they may pull down their barns and build 
greater and store them with harvests of gold- 
en grain and fare sumptuously every day ; 
.but that blessed possession, peace, which 
Christ bequeathed to his disciples, cannot be, 
found among their treasures. * 'There is no 
peace, saith my God, to the wicked." Peace, 
we say again, is a possession of the Christian 
household. ''Therefore being justified by 
faith we have peace with God." ''Thou wilt 
keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed 
on thee; because he trusteth in thee." 

There is a "peace which passeth understand- 
ing ; but it is not kept on merchant's shelves, 
it is not dug out of the earth, it is not found 
in the hoary deep, it does not grow on plain 
or mountain, it is not found in the coffers of 



126 SCRIPTURE EMBLEMS 

the rich. It is the ^ft of God to his family- 
**Peace I leave with you,'* says Christ; ^'niy 
peace I give unto you." 

Another vahiable possession of the family 
of Goi is their Christian hope. That hope 
ivhich maketh not ashamed. That hope which 
is ^*a8 an anchor to the soul both suie and 
steadfast, and v/hicih entereth into that within 
the vail." 

This hope is no worldly possession. The 
people of the world may turn their goods 
over and over ; but among them all they will 
find no Christian hope. The word of God 
declares that they are ^ ^strangers to the cov- 
enant of promise, having no hope and without 
God in the world." 

Ill order to have this hope we must belong 
to the famil}' of God. We must be begotten 
of God to this blessedness. ''Blessed be the 
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
which according to his abundant mercy hath 
begotten us again unto a lively hope by the 
resurrection of Jesus Christ, from the dead, 
to an inheritance incorruptiblp, undefiled and 
that fadcth not away, reserved in heaven for 
you who are kept by the power of God through 
faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in 
the last time." 



OF god's people. 127 

The hope of an inheritance that is "incor- 
ruptible, undefiled and that fadeth not away/' 
is a glorious possession ; but it belongs only 
to those who have been begotten unto it. 
It is found nowhere except in the household 
of God. 

The most of the land which the children of 
Israel were to possess lay on "the other side of 
Jordan. " So it is with most of the Christian's 
possessions. God's family have some good 
things in the wilderness ; but beyond the river 
is a "land flowing with milk and honey," and 
his people will soon exchange the wilderness 
manna for the corn of Canaan. But while 
Canaan's good things are in waiting hope looks 
over the river upon the 

* 'Sweet fields arrayed in living green 
And rivers of delight, ' ' 

and rests happy in the prospect. 

Dear friend, look through 3^our estate and 
see whether there is in it a "good hope through 
grace," a hope that entereth into that within 
the vail. 

Again, we have said that the most of the 
Christian's treasure lies over the river. He 
has "a home over there." Our Elder Brother 
once said, "In my Father's house are many 
marsions," and in rcadira" the will which hus 



128 SCRIPTURE EMBLEMS 

been left to the heirs of God, we have seen 
amono; other thinos this sentence : '^For we 
know that if this earthly house of our taber- 
nacle were dissolved, we have a building of 
God, a house not made with hands, eternal 
in the heavens." 

We can assure the people of the world that 
God's family is not a poor family. 

Man of the world, what are your perishable 
possessions worth which you can drag no far- 
ther with you than to your death-bed? What 
are they worth compared with the Christian's 
peace ''which passeth understanding," his 
*'hope which maketh not ashamed," and his 
home in heaven which is better than any you 
possess on earth? 

There may be men who have not much 
change in their pockets, who j^et have great 
w^ealth in lands and stock. Such men can af- 
ford to be found with out much change about 
them. Their lands and their stock are a se- 
curity against bankruptcy and poverty. 

Some of God's people do not have much 
change about them ; but they can afford to be 
found with out much tinkling coin in their 
pockets when they have a fortune laid up 
*Hvhere neither moth nor rust doth corrupt,an(l 
where thieves do not break throusfh nor steal." 



OF god's people. 129 

Dives could clotho himself in purple iind fine 
linen, and fare sumptuously every day ; hut 
over the river God's Lazarus had better 
clothes and better food. God s children are 
all rich. 

IV. Family joys and so it rows. 

There are joys and sorrows among the 
members of the same family which might be 
CiiUed, family joys and sorroivs. There are 
joys with w^hich ''a stranger doth not inter- 
meddle," and there are sorrows which do 
not much affect the outside world. 

The confide) ice wdiich the members of one 
family have in each other, and the sympathy 
which exists between them, lay the foundatioa 
for joy which can only be experienced where 
this confidence and sympathy are found. 

Do not families engage in conversation 
about things which deeplj' interest them and 
give them great joy as a family, when if a 
stranger should suddenly enter the room, these 
themes which gave so much household joy 
would at once be dropped? And why? Be- 
cause the stranger is not supposed to be in 
full S3'mpathy with that household, and does 
not enjoy the confidence of a member of the 
famil3\ The interests of that family may be 
nothing more to him, and no more sacred to 



130 SCRIPTURE EMBLEMS 

him, than those of a thousand other families. 
But this household has jo3^s which are pecul- 
iarly'^ its own. 

If an erring and wandering son returns to 
his father's home and the bosom of an affec- 
tionate family, we expect a deeper joy in that 
household than in the surrounding homes. 

We expect the family's misfortunes and 
grievances to send sorrow and sleepless nights 
into the household where they occur, while 
often they are but little felt in other homes of 
the city or hamlet. 

So in the famil}^ of God there are seasons 
of joy and of grief w^hich affect the Christian 
household as they do not affect the outside 
world. 

When a child of God falls into sin w^hat 
an occasion of grief to the brothers and sis- 
ters in the church who love the Christian 
household and are jealous of the honor of 
their heavenly Father. 

And when one has wandered off into sin 
and lukewarmness in the service of the Mas- 
ter, and, like the prodigal, comes home again 
and returns to the duties of a member of the 
•'household of faith,*' what joy there is, not 
only ^4n the presence of the angels of God" 
but in the family of God's redeemed. 



OF god's people. 131 

Enclosed by the walls and curtains of earth- 
ly homes, there are seasons of joy, and fes* 
tive occasions, which have a peculiar interest 
to that one household. 

As, by one after another, the number of 
those who come as angels of mercy to gladden 
the household with their sunshiny presence 
are increased, the mother '^remembereth no 
more the anguish for joy that a man is bora 
into the world." There is joy in that circle 
when a new spirit enters it to share the for- 
tunes of the family, and to be both a care and 
a comfort. 

So when a child is born into the family of 
God there is joy in the Christian household. 
There is one more to share the joys and bear 
the burdens of a Christian life. One more to 
share the family possessions. One more to 
be a care and a comfort in the household of 
faith. 

When the circles of earthly homes are brok- 
en by death, and the loved ones are laid a- 
way in the silent tomb, there is a pall of sor- 
row spread over the household thus stricken 
with death. There is now within these walls 
a deep family sorrow. One who bore the 
family burdens and shared the family joys 
now lies where there "is no work nor device." 



132 SCRIPTURE EMBLEMS OF GOD's PEOPLE. 

The voice that cheered and counseled is still in 
death. The noisy world may drive the hearse 
to the grave-yard and >)ack again, and in an 
hour forget that another one has gone to the 
city of the dead. Not so in the stricken house- 
hold. Long do the stricken members mourn 
their loss. It is a family sorrow. 

So when a loved and useful member of the 
household of faith is called away, the family 
of God mourns. The world may mourn a 
neighlx)r and a friend ; but the family of God 
mourns a brother or a sister, a father or a 
mother in Israel, one who could share the bur- 
dens of the Christian household and help to 
fight the battles of the Christian wai^fare. One 
whose voice in prayer and praise had stirred 
the church to nobler work and fuller conse- 
cration. This one is missed from the family 
of God and there is family sorrow. 

But by and by the family of God will all 
be gathered home. Then no river of death 
will divide it, then no sorrows will disturb it. 
Its joys will be the joys of the redeemed. 
How blessed it will be, then, to belong to the 
family of God. 



CHAPTER IX. 

god's people the body of CHRIST. 

Now ye are the body of Christy and ynemhers 
in partlctdar, I Cor. 12 :27, 

In considering this passage which represents 
behevers as "the body of Christ" we ask you 
to consider four things : 

I. The believer's connection with christ, 

II. The believer's subjection to christ. 

III. The unity of god's people. 

IV. The duty of god's people to each 

OTHER. 

The redeemed of the Lord, of all ages and 
nations constitute a body of which the head is 
Christ. ' 'Ye are the body of Christ, ' ' says the 
apostle, writing to the Corinthians. He has 
just been comparing the church or the body 
of believers, to the human body with its vari- 
ous members. He speaks of the duties whicli 
grow out of their natural connection one with 
another. He shows the sympath}^ which ex- 
9 



131: SCRIPTUHE EMBLEMS 

ists between the members of the human body, 
and, after speaking of them under this figure, 
and showing them their relations to each other 
})y the relation which the members of the hu- 
nwn body sustain to each other, he then 
apparently with a view to show them the rela- 
tion which they all sustain to their great Head, 
says, ''Ye are the body of Christ, and mem- 
bers in particular.'* 

Let us then notice, 

I. The connection of the believer with 

CHRIST. 

The connection between the head and the 
members of the body is a vital connection. 
To behead is to put to death. The church 
could not live without its Head. Church life 
depends upon connection with Christ. The 
apostle says, ''The life which 1 now live in 
the flesh I live by the faith of the son of God 
who loved me and gave himself for me." 

The unrenewed soul is separated from Christ, 
and as a consequence is "dead in trespasses 
and sins." There can be no more spiritual 
life in a body separated from Christ than nat- 
ural life in a bodj^ separated from its head. 

The human body and head constitute one 
organism. Neither one is complete without 
the other. What would the head be without 



OF god's people. 135 

the hody? and what would the body be with- 
out the head ? 

We dare not say that Christ would not be 
complete without a church ; yet he has a com- 
pleteness as the Head of the church which 
depends upon the existence of a church, and 
surely the church has a completeness which is 
dependent upon Christ. 

Christ assumed a human nature, and thus 
brought himself into closer relationship with 
the human race. ''He took not on him the 
nature of angels ; but he took on him the seed 
of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it be- 
hoved him to be made like unto his brethroi, 
that he might be a merciful and faithful high 
priest in things pertaining to God, to make 
reconciliation for the sins of the people.'' By 
virtue of his human nature Christ sustains a 
relation to the church which the Father does 
not. In the passage just referred to his peo- 
ple are called his ''brethren." 

The church sustains a connection then with 
Christ by virtue of faith which unites them 
with him, and by virtue of the human nature 
which he has assumed in common with them. 

In the human organism the life is in the 
blood, and the blood that flows through the 
head flows through the body and all its mem- 



136 sckiptukp: emblems 

hers. And in the spiritunl economy where 
Christ is the Head and his people the body 
and the members, the same hfe that is in 
Christ flows throngh every believer, or mem- 
ber of the spii'itaal body. 

How blessed is this thought of oneness with 
Christ ; how near it makes him seem to us. 
Beloved, ''3^e are the body of Christ." Will 
not Christ care for his own body? Is not 
every member under his especial keeping? 

A consciousness of this close and intimate 
connection with Christ brings great consola- 
tion to the members of his body. AVhat a 
pledge of good things it is to the soul of 
the believer to be one ivith Christ, 

I[. The believer's subtection to Christ. 

The body and its members are supposed to 
be under the control of the head. The will 
is lawgiver to the body and its members. It 
is my will that directs my hand to rls3, my 
foot move, my eye to open or my tongue to 
speak. 

As the laws of the human s^^stem are uniler- 
stood, these members are all in subje:'tion to 
the head. 

So the members of the church are in sub- 
jection to Christ their Head. He is Lawgiver 
and ''Head over all things" to the churc'-i. 



OF god's people. 137 

God's people do net make the laws which 
govern the con3cien:-e. Christis their Head and 
their Ruler. His laws lake precedence of all 
other laws. He has redee^ned his people with 
his own precions blood, and has a right to them 
and their services. When he demands of his 
people benevolence, or patience, or love, he 
is only acting in his capacity as Head of the 
church, liaving a right to direct and control 
it according to his will. Our time, our means, 
our influence and our affections are rightfully 
his, and he acts in perfect harmony with his 
character as Lawgiver to the church w-lien he 
specifies how our time shall be used, what 
disposition shall be made of our means, w^iere 
and in what way our influence shall be exerted 
and upon whom our strongest affections must 
be placed. 

But is it not a blessed thing for the churcli 
that their Head and Lawgiver makes laws that 
have for their end the good of his subjects? 
What law did Christ ever make for the church 
that Avas unfavorable to its comfort and pros- 
perity? Is thei-e any thing in the sermon 
on tlie Mount, which when reduced to prac- 
tice works disaster to the church? No, ''the 
law is holy, and the commandment hol^^ and 
just, and good," '^His commandments nre 
not grievous." 



138 SCRirxUKE EMBLEMS 

In human ignorance and blindness the head 
may sometimes issue orders which would run 
the body and its members into danger and 
perplexity. Absalom's will hanged him on 
an oak. Haman's will brought him to a sim- 
ilar end. Judas forsook the Lawgiver of the 
church, and following the dictates of a de- 
praved will, ended his career in disgraceful 
suicide. 

Blessed be his name, the Plead of the church, 
Jesus Christ, gives laws which secure the 
comfort and peace of the members of the 
body, — commandments which are not griev- 
ous ; and they are wise who yield themselves 
to his kind control. 

III. Unity of god's people. 

The human system is composed of many 
members, but these many members constitute 
one bod3\ The a.)03tle says, '^Now are they 
many members, yet but one body. ' ' He spec- 
ifies the eye and the ear and the hand and the 
foot, and speaks of their different offices, but 
tells us that these all constitute but one body ; 
and in this unity in diversity he shows that 
believers, — the members of Christ's body, — 
though they have different offices to fill, con- 
stitute but one body. He says, ''To one is 
given by the Spirit the word of wisdom ; to 



OF god's people. 139 

another the word of knowledge by the same 
Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit; to 
another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit ; 
to another the working of miracles ; to anoth- 
er prophecy ; to another discerning of spirits; 
to another divers kinds of tongues ; to anoth- 
er the interpretation of tongues ; but all these 
worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, di- 
viding to every man sevei-ally as he will. For 
as the body is one, and hath many members, 
and all the members of that one body, being 
many, are one body: so also is Christ. For 
by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, 
whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we 
be bond or free ; and have been all made to 
drink into one Spirit. ''For the body is not 
one member, but many." 

Now the teaching of this passage is plain. 
It shows that though there are diversities of 
gifts among God's people, — though one is 
qualified to fill one oflfice in the church, and 
another to fill another, — though their work 
maj' be different, yet are they all one body, 
as the members of the human system all con- 
stitute but one body. Difference of age in 
which they live, difference of zone in whicli 
they were born, difference of nationalit}' to 
which they belong, difference of gifts which 



140 SCRIPTUKE EMBLEMS 

they are called and empowered to exercise, — 
none of these can prevent the church of Christ 
from being one body. This agrees, we think, 
with the prayer of Christ in which he says, 
*'Holy Father, keep through thine own name 
those whom thou hast given me, that they may 

be one, as we are/' '^Neither pray 

I for these alone, but for them also wiiich 
shall believe on me through their w^ord ; that 
they all may be one ; as thou, Father, art in 
me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in 
us : that the world may believe that thou hast 
sent me. And the glory which thou gavest 
me I have given them ; that they may be one, 
even as w^e are one. I in them, and thou in 
me, that they may be made perfect in one." 
Believers, then, are not only one with Christ 
their common Head, but they are one with 
each other in a common bod3\ ''Christ is the 
Head of the church" and ''we are members 
of his body, of his flesh and of his bones." 

How beautifull}^ does the figure of a human 
body set forth this truth. All its members, 
large or small, weak or strong, enter into and 
compose a part of one body. No member of 
the human body separates itself from its fel- 
low" members and sets up for itselt. This 
would not only be fatal to the schismatic mem- 



OF god's people. 141 

ber, but it would be an injury to the body. No 
member can be taken away without a loss to 
the body. Could the body spaix5 a hand, a 
foot, an eve, an ear or a tono;ue and not suf- 
fer loss? It requires all these members to 
make up the body. Each one is a part of it, 
''If the foot should say, Because I am not the 
hand, I am not of the bod}^ ; is it therefore 
not of th^, body? And if the ear should say, 
Because I am not the eye, I am not of the 
body ; is it therefore not of the body ?' ' Each 
one of these members if^ of the body, and tak- 
en together they constitute one, and but one 
body. It would not be possible for the mem- 
bers to divide into two bodies. The hands 
and the feet could not withdraw from the 
body and set up a body of their own. They 
would be separated from the head, and this 
separation would be death to the revolting 
members. There cannot be two separate bod- 
ies for one head. The members must consti- 
tute ])at one body. 

So is it with the church. It cannot he di- 
vided. It only has an existence as it is con- 
nected with Christ its Head. The soul sepa- 
rated from Christ is of the synngogue of Sa- 
tan. None but those who constitute the l)ody 
of Christ have their names in the book of life. 



142 SCRIPTURE EMBLEMS 

Having;' Christ for the Head of the church 
makes him ver^' near to the behever; and 
having all beUevers one, constituting the bodf/ 
of the church naakes tli<in) very near to each 
other. ''I in them,'' says Christ to the Fa- 
ther, — ''I in them, and thou in me, that they 
may be made perfect in one.'* 

IV, The duty of god's people to each 

OTHER. 

The sympathy, and harmony, and mutual 
helpfulness which exist among the members 
of the human body are suggestive of the du- 
ties which the members of Christ's body owe 
to each other. There is *^no schism in the 
body." The members have the same care 
one for another. The hand works for the good 
of all the members. The feet stand ready to 
run on errands for the whole body. The eye 
does not see for itself simply ; it guides the 
hands and feet, and keeps watch for the whole 
body. The ear does not hear for itself alone, 
but for all the members. The tongue is 
spokesman for them all. The eye cannot 
hear, the ear cannot see, neither can the 
tongue walk. But each of these members has 
an appointed work needful for the body, and 
each one performs its own helpful part of the 
work. 



OF god's people. 148 

A great many functions must be performed 
bj the members of the human body in order 
to maintain its existence and secure its high- 
est good. Food must be prepared and admin-, 
istered by some of the members. Others 
must then come to the aid and prepare the 
food for digestion. Others still must then take 
it up and prepare it to nourish the body. 
Carriers must then be emplo^^ed to convey it 
to every organ and fiber of the human s^^stem. 
Other organs must then convert it into bone 
and muscle. Still other members must be 
ready to move off with the waste particles of 
matter which have filled their ofiSce in the s^^s- 
tem and are now of no more service. The 
lungs must be on duty day and night, receiv- 
ing and expelling the air needed to impart vi- 
tal energy to the members and carry off the 
impurities handed over to it by the blood. 

Thus stand the members of the hum^anbody 
related to each other, each one in its place 
doing just that thing needed for the good of 
all the others. Is there not here a beautiful les- 
son to the church, the members of Christ's 
body? There is no schism taught us by the 
members of the human body. There is no 
lesson of selfishness to be learned here. Back- 
biting, division of interest, hatred and envy 



144 SCUIPTUKE EBIBLEMS 

are not copied from the members of tlie Iin- 
m in body. Look at ^^oiir hand, composed of 
five little memb3ro,an 1 see how they all work 
togeiher for' each other and for the good of 
the whole body. Look at your feet, — hum- 
ble and obedient servants, — and learn how 
you should be read}^ to go any where for the 
good of the body of Christ. Listen to 3'Our 
tongue wdien it speaks out the wants of the 
body and eloquently pleads for aid, and learn 
how you should talk for the edification of the 
church, and plead with God to supply its wants. 
Think how one member of the body supple- 
ments the work of another, how one stand;^ 
ready ro take up the work where another one 
lays it down, all w^orking in harmony for the 
general comfort and good of the body, and 
learn how the members of the church, the 
members of Christ's body, should be interest- 
ed in each other, and w^ork for the mutual good 
of the whole body. 

When dangler threatens one member of the 
human body how the other members conspire 
in their efforts for its protection. If any 
thing threatens the eye how quickly the gener- 
ous lid darts in between the more sensitive 
member and the impending danger. If dan- 
ger(»us missiles are flying about the head, — a 



OF god's people. 145 

vital organ, — how speedily do the hands go 
up to ward off the foe ; and as the body can 
better afford a wound in the hand than in the 
head, the hand will even receive the injury 
in order to save the head. And then while 
one hand suffers from the wound the other 
hand will endeavor to do the work of both. 

Surelj' there is no schism in the body ; all 
the members have the same care one for an- 
other. 

[f this example were faithfully followed in 
the church, the body of Christ, would there 
not be a harraou}' and a prosperity among 
its members never yet experienced? It would 
be the end of backbiting, envy, hatred, jeal- 
ousy, and selfishness. If each member should 
recognize the fact that when one member suf- 
fers all the members suffer with it, and would 
be as jealous of each other's welfare as are 
the members of our bodies, many a homely 
broil would be put awaj", many a deep wound 
would be healed, many an unkind word would 
be recalled, and many a bitter feehng would 
be turned into love. 

Suppose for a moment a schism among the 
members of 3'our bod3\ Your feet some 
morning declare that they have been imposed 
upon, and refuse to carry the body. The 



146 SCRIPTURE EMBLEMS 

hands complain of over- work and fold them- 
selves up for rest. The e3'e refuses an}^ long- 
er to watch and the ear an}^ longer to be sen- 
tinel. The lungs declare that they will no 
longer puff and pant for these indolent mem- 
bers, and the heart says/ 'I will not work a- 
lone/' and lies down to rest. This would be 
death to the body and all its members. 

The highest prosperity of the human body 
demands the co-operation of all the members. 
Their interests are not separate. '^Tlie e^^e 
cannot say nnto the hand, I have no need of 
thee : nor again the head to the feet, I have 
no need of you. Nay much more, those mem- 
bers of the body, which seem to be more fee- 
ble, are necessary." The eye does have need 
of the hand, and the head does have need of 
the feet, and those members which seem to be 
feeble are necessary to the life of the body. 

So Christian friends, we have need of each 
other. We are members of one and the same 
body, the body of Christ, and when we ''bite 
and devour one another' we bite and devour 
ourselves. When we build up and strength- 
en each other we build up and strengthen 
ourselves. 

When my hand is working for the good of 
my feet it is working for its own good, and 



OF god's people, 147 

'When my feet are working for the good of 
my hands they are working for their own good. 
* 'Whether one member suffer, all the members 
suffer with it ; or one member be honored, 
all the memberss rejoice with it. Now ye are 
thebod}^ of Christ and members in particular. '' 

We were not created for selfish ends. We 
are taught by the word of God and by the ex* 
ample of the members of our own bodies to 
'^look not every man on his own things, but 
every man also on the things of others." 
Being members of one body it becomes us to 
''follow^ after the things which make for peace, 
and things wherewith one may edify another." 

Tlie apostles says, ' 'We then that are strong 
ought to bear the infirmities of the wxak, and 
not to please ourselves. Let every one of us 
please his neighbor for his good to edification. 
For even Christ pleased not himself. "^ 

The same lesson is taught us in the silent 
example of the members of our bodies. How 
plain is the truth that one member works for 
the good of all the others, — will even expose 
itself to danger, bear burdens and undergo 
suffering for its fellow members. 

Let us sit down then before ourselves and 
learn lessons of diviue truth from the work- 
ings and relations of the members of our 



148 SCRIPTURE EMBLE:\rS OF GOD'S PEOPLE. 

own bodies. Let us learn what a blessed one- 
ness exists between the church and its Head, 
Jesus Christ. Let us learn, that as members 
of Christ's body, we must be in subjection to 
its Head. Let us study the unity which exists 
in the church making all believers one in the 
body of Christ. In the example which the 
members of the human body give in working 
together for each other's good, let us learn 
to love one another, to help each other, to 
comfort each other, to guard, not only each 
other's persons, but characters, and to build 
each other up in the faith of our great Head, 
our Lord and our Savior Jesus Christ. 



CHAPTER X. 

god's people the bride of CHRIST. 

Jjfd lis be glad and 9*h/o?'cg, and give honor to 
him : for the marriage of the Lamb is com^e^ and 
his wife hath m-ii-i herself readij. And to her teas 
granted that she shoaUl be arrayed in fine linen^ 
dean and ivhite : for the fine linen is the right- 
eousness of saints. And he saith unto me, 
Write ^ Blessed are they which are called unto 
the marriage supper of the Lamb, 

Rev, 19 : 7-9. 

No other earthly relation, it is believed, is 
so tender, so binding and so full of comfort 
as the relation of marriage. It is a relation 
which snpposes love, — strong, mutual love. 
Love grows out of some relations, but this 
relation grows out of love. The mother loves 
her child because it is her child ; a brother 
loves his sister because she is his sister. But 
the bride and bridegroom enter into life-long 
10 



150 SCRIPTURE EMBLEMS 

covenant through a love which springs from 
no natural relations. It is free and uncon- 
strained. The brother does not select his sis- 
ters nor the child its parents. The love ^>'hich 
grows up between them is that which arises, 
from natural relation and association. But 
the union of the bride and the bridescroom is 
that wliich arises from simple love and choice. 
Of earthly beings the one is to the other ''the 
chiefest among ten thousand" and ''altogeth- 
er lovely." What sacrifices can bo made, 
what trials borne and what danglers faced 
for the object of such love. They twain are 
one, — one in interest and one in heart. 

Now Christ has condescended to assume the 
relatiim to ihe church of a brideo;room. The 
passage before us sa3's, "Let us be glad and 
rejoice, and give honor to him, for the mar- 
riage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath 
made herself ready. And to her was grant- 
ed that she should be arrayed in line linen, 
clean and white ; for the fine linen is the right- 
eousness of saints. And he saith unto me, 
Write, Blessed are they who are called unto 
the marriage supper of the Lamb." 

In considering the church as the bride of 
Christ let us notice, 

I. The w^ooing. 



OF god's people. 151 

. II. The espousal. 

III. The marriage supper. 

IV. The new home. 
I. The wooing. 

The love of Christ to those lost in sin is 
set forth in many tender expressions, and pa- 
thetic appeals in the word of God. When he 
would woo thera and persuade them to become 
his he says, '"Come unto me all ye that are 
weary and heavy laden, and I will give you 
rest." He tells them that ^'The Son of man 
is come to seek and to save that which was 
lost." He says, "Him that cometh unto me 
I will in no wise cast out." When he came 
to his own and his own received him not he 
said, ''O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that kiil- 
est the prophets and stonest them which are 
sent unto thee, how often would I have gathr 
ered thy children together, even as a hen gath- 
ereth her chickens under her wings, and ye 
would not." 

Christ went up and down the laiid offering 
his love and his protection to the lost ones of 
earth, seeking to win them away from vice, and 
to espouse them unto himself. The love with 
which he sought them was an everlasting love. 
His voice to his bride is, "I have loved thee 
with an everlasting love." The arms with 



152 SCRIPTURE EMBLEMS 

which he would fold his beloved to his bosom 
are '^everlasting arms." 

Christ has sent his Spirit into the world and 
into the hearts of sinners to persuade them to 
accept of his offers of love, and that Spirit 
wooes many a heart to Christ. Love begets 
love, and the love of Christ, manifested in his 
words, his life, his sufferings and death, the 
Spirit uses to influence the soul to yield itself 
to the heavenly Bridegroom. That Spirit 
presses home upon the soul the desirableness 
of Christ, his love, his sufferings in behalf of 
it, the blessings w^hich he has in store for it. 
That Spirit shows, through the word of Christ, 
wliat a blessed lot theirs wdll be who i"-ccept 
the offers of peace and pardon and eternal life 
and heavenly joy, made to them by the Bride- 
groom. And thus, under the presentation^ 
and persuasion of the Holy Spirit, the soul con- 
sents to Christ's proposals of love, to love him 
and to be loved by him, and to be his for 
evermore. 

II. The espousal. 

In faithful wedlock the spouse forsakes all 
other loves. Let her have never so many 
suitors she turns from them all to keep herself 
''to him and him only'' with whom she has cov- 
enanted till death. 



OF god's people. 153 

So when the soul is espoused to Christ it 
must turn away from all other suitors that it 
may be presented to Christ ^'as a chaste vir- 
gin." As the bridegroom expects, when he 
receives his bride, that no man shall ever hold 
so high a place in her affections as himself, so 
Christ requires the soul espoused to him to 
give to him the best and strongest affections 
of the heart. ^'He that loveth father or moth- 
er more than me" says he, '4s not worth}^ of 
me : and he that loveth son or daughter more 
than me is not worthy of me." And what 
bridegroom would not say the same? Is the 
bridegroom satisfied that any one on earth 
should be before him in the affections of his 
spouse? Christ is exceedingly jealous of the 
love of the church. He says, ''If any man 
come to me, and hate not his father, and 
mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, ^ 
and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he can- 
not be my disciple." 

Would it be unreasonable for the bride- 
groom, when making proposals to one for 
whom his love was so great that he could lay 
down his life for her, to say to her, "Unless 
you love me more than father or mother or: 
brother or sister or anj' other friend, or any- 
thing else on earth j^ou cannot be my bride?" 



154 scinnuiiE emblems 

Would he assume the place of bridegroom, 
and bind himself with solen^.n and life-Ions: 
vows to one who acknowledged that there was 
another on earth whom she loved more? And 
will Christ espouse to himself a church which 
loves another better than liimself ? 

When the soul is ready to say to Christ, 
*'Thou art to me the chiefest among ten thou- 
sand;" ''Whom have I in heaven but thee? 
and there is none upon earth that I desire be- 
sides thee," Christ is ready to enter into cov- 
enant with that soul and espouse it to himself, 
and that soul can say, '*! am my Beloved's 
and he is mine." 

Now the soul enters into rest. Its longings 
are met. As one who longs for love feels a' 
satisfaction and rest when that longing is met 
in the strong affection of a warm heart, so a 
soul assured of the love of Christ, assured of 
peace and friendship with him, settles down 
into quiet rest and satisfaction. There is no 
more of that restless yearning that character- 
ises the soul out of Christ. 

Does the young bride, wedded to the object 
of her soul's fullest choice yearn after other 
lovers? No more would it become the soul 
espoused to Christ to long after the world, or 
honor, or power. To the soul that has cor- 



OF god's people. 155 

diallj^ received Christ he is ''all and in all." 
Nothing earthly i? so lovely as Christ, no 
other name so dear as his. Should 3'ou sa}^ 
to that soul, "What is thy beloved more than 
another beloved ?" the prompt reply would be, 
"H? is the chiefest among ten thousand." And 
so dear is the church to Christ that her name 
is represented as being ''engraven upon the 
palms of his hands," and his voice to her is, 
"I have loved thee with an everlasting love ;" 
and the prophet says, "He that toucheth you 
toucheth the apple of his eye." 

Thus in holier wedlock than is ever celebra- 
ted amid the festivities of earth, does Christ 
receive as his bride, the church, which he has 
redeemed with his own precious blood. 

III. The marriage supper. 

"The marriage of the Lamb is come, and 
his wife hath made herself ready. And to 
her was granted that she should be arrayed in 
fine Unen, clean and white: for the fine linen 
is the righteousness of saints. And he said 
unto me. Write, Blessed are they which are 
called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb." 

The time referred to in this passage appears 
to be the close of the gospel dispensation, — 
the time, after which, no more offers of sal- 
vation will be ma le, no more sinners saved, — 



358 SCRIPTUUE EMBLEMS 

that time when it mny be srid ^'Ile VNhieh is 
filthy, ]<3t him be filthy still: and h:*, that is 
righteous, let hira be righteous still." 

All who are to consiitute the church, 
will then have been gathered into the fold. 
The wife will not have made herself ready un- 
til the number is made up of which the glori- 
fied church is to be composed. As long as 
there is one more offer to be made and accept- 
ed, one more sinner to be saved and purified, 
it cannct be said that ^'the wife h^{\\ made 
herself read3',"for the Lamb's wile is to be 
the entire, redeemed and glorified church. 
Then, with all the defilements of sin removed, 
with all her holy adornments on, with her ''lin- 
en clean and white," she will be ready to be 
presented to Christ as the reward of his humil- 
iation, sufferings and death in her behalf. 

''Hath made herself read\^" How careful 
is the bride to make herself ready ibr the time 
Vv'hen, with all that she is and all that she has, 
slieis formally and publiclj^ to present herself 
to the brid.egroom. If ever her person is to 
be arrayed in i^sty apparel, if ever adornments 
are to be worn, if ever the merchant and the 
fuller and seamstress are to do their utmost 
to provide a faultless attire, if ever ingenious 
bands ajc wanted to do cunning work in fine 



OF god's PEOPLE. 157 

twiiied linen, is it not vrhen the v^ife elect is 
maldng herself ready for the occasion of the 
marriage supper? 

The church, as the bride of Christ, is pre- 
paring for the marriage supper of the Lamb. 
More than eighteen hundred years ago. Christ 
redeemed a church with his own blood, and 
has been gathering it out from a world of sin 
and purifying it unto himself. It is to be 
coiUDosed of all the children of God of all ao:es 
and nations; those as well who trusted in a 
Redeemer to come, as those who trust in a 
Savior crucified and risen. AH these Christ 
ynli claim in the last gi'cat day as his own 
chosen bride. To them it will be granted to 
be arrayed in '^fnie linen, clean and vvhite," 
and to sit dov;n to the marriage supper of the 
Lamb, 

"He saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they 
which are called luito the marriage supper of 
the Lamb." It is considered a favor and a 
privilege to be invited to a marriage supper, 
and even '^ the friend of the bridegroom stand- 
eth and rejoiceth greatly boaause of the bride- 
groom's voice," though he have no personal 
interest in the nuptials of the occasion. What 
then must be the joy of the church, the bride 
itself, when called to the marriage supper of 
the Lamb! 



358 SCRIPTURE EMBLEMS 

It will bin grand occasion when the P'ather 
gives this marriage siip|)er to his only begot- 
ten Son. The bride has been thousands of 
years in preparing for its celebration. The 
feast will be honored with the patriarchs and 
prophets. David, the sweet singer of Israel, 
will, perhaps, lead off in anthems and hallelu- 
iahs of praise, followed by ^'ten thousand times 
ten thousand, and thousands of thousands ;say- 
ing with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that 
was slain to receive power, and riches, and 
wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, 
and blessing." 

This will be an hour of joj^ and triumph 
with the church. The last enemy will have 
been subdued. Death will have been swallow- 
ed up in victory. All struggles with tempta- 
tion and sin will be over. Fears and pains, 
sickness and sorrow will all be things of the 
past. Even these vile bodies shall have been 
fashioned like unto Christ's glorious body, 
and the church, redeemed, saved and glorified, 
will stand in her fine linen, clean and w^hite, 
wiiich is "the righteousness of saints." 

Will not heaven ring with glad anthems 
when Christ the only begotten Son of God, 
wiio descended to this w^orld of sin, toiled, 
suffered and died to redeem a church to him- 



OF god's people. 159 

self, receives that church,' washed and made 
white in his own blood? receives her, ''prepar- 
ed as a bride adorned for her husband?" Will 
not Christ himself 'see of the travail of his 
soul and be satisfied?' 

Will not every angel be an interested spec- 
tator when their Lord receives, as a wife made 
ready for the marriage, that church which has 
cost him tears and groans and life itself? 

Will it not be an interesting scene when the^ 
redemptive work is done, — when the heralds 
of salvation shall all be called in, their work- 
as embassadors to a lost world finished, the 
righteous separated from the wicked, decked 
as a bride and given to Christ for his eternal 
possession and reward? 

If this would be a glorious scene to witness, 
if it would be enrapturing to hear the mighty 
throng saying, "Blessing, and honor, and glo- 
ry, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon 
the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and 
ever,"— if it w^ould be a joy to be a spectator 
at the marriage supper of the Lamb, what 
would it be to be one in that church which 
shall constitute the bride of Christ, — to be one 
of those saved by his death, washed in his 
blood, sanctified by his Spirit, leaning upon 
his arm as upon the arm of a strong and lov- 



160 SCIIIPTURE EMBLEMS 

ing bridegroom and hear him say as to a bride, 
' 'I have loved thee with an everlasting love ?'' 
Truly ^'Blessed are they who are called to the 
marriage supper of the Lamb." 

It becomes the church to be making herself 
read}" for the celebration of the marriage sup- 
per. The Bridegroom has not yet come, neith- 
er hath the wife yet made herself ready. The 
work of winning souls to Christ is not 3'et 
done. The work of the renewing and sanctify- 
ing Spirit is needed in the church to purify it 
and better fit it for the society of the Bride- 
groom. Purity of soul should be the end for 
which the church should continually strive and 
pray. The voice of the Bridegroom to the 
bride while she is waiting for his coming is, 
^'Occupy till I come ;" and his admonition is 
to "watch," for the church does not know the 
day nor the hour when her Lord shall come.* 
At midnight there may be a cry made, "Be^ 
hold the Bridegroom cometh," — cometh to 
call for his bride, cometh to gather to himself 
his ransomed church. Who will then be ready 
to go in to the marriage supper of the Lamb? 

IV. The new home. 

After the celebration of the marriage the, 
bridegroom takes his bride to her new home. 
He usually prepares a place for her before the 



OF god's people. 161 

marriage supper takes place. The bride ex* 
pects, not only to leave her father and her 
mother, and the associates of her maiden life, 
but she expects to leave her former home for 
the new one prepared for her by her bride- 
groom. When Abraham sent his servant to 
take a wife for Isaac, and that servant found 
Rebekah, she left her old home for a new one 
with Isaac whose wife she became. 

So while the church, the bride of Christy 
makes herself read}- for the marriage supper, 
Christ, the Bridegroom, prepares a place for 
her. When he was on earth making offers of 
love to his future bride, he said, ''In my Fa- 
ther's house are many mansions: if it were 
not so, I would have told you. I go to pre- 
pare a place for 3'ou. And if I go and prepare 
a place for you, I will come again, and receive 
you unto m} self ; that where I am, there ye 
may be also. " And in his intercessory pray- 
er he says, "Father I will that they whom 
thou hast given me be with me where I am." 

No husband ever ushered his beloved into 
such a home as Christ will give on the bridal 
day to his espoused church. The best and 
happiest homes of earth are subject to sick- 
ness and pain. But heaven, the home of the 
ransomed church will never echo with the 



162 SCRIPTURE ILMBLEMS 

wails of distress. On eailh the bridegroom 
may love his bride with all the ardor she 
could ask, and lead her into palatial rooms, 
provided with all the comforts and luxuries 
that love and wealth could procure; but the 
Jbest home that he can furnish her will not 
secure her against sorrow, disease and death. 
But when the heavenlv Brides-room shall lead 
his bride into the mansions above, — into his 
own glorious home, it will be a home where 

* 'Sickness and sorrow pain and death, r 

Are felt and feare I no more." 

''There the wicked cease from troubling,and 
there the w^eary be at rest." 

''Here have we no continuing city ;'' but 
when the bride of Christ shall have "made 
herself ready" she will be led into "a house 
not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." 

Dear friend out of Christ, the heavenly 
Bridegroom is still, with wooing voice invit- 
ing the lost ones of this world to come un- 
to him, and he promises them that he will 
cast out none that come. The foulest and 
vilest that will take refuge in him shall be 
washed and made white in his blood, — shall 
be added to that church which is his bride. 
He offers thee the love of his heart and the 
protection of his arm, he offers thee love bet- 



OF god's people. 163 

ter than a mother's love, ''Can a woman for- 
get her sucking child, that she should not have 
compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they 
may forget, 3^et will I not forget thee." Is 
this a love strong enough to secure your com- 
fort and safety? When the redeemed church 
is made up and all Christ' s people are gather- 
ed together at the marriage supper of the 
Lamb, would you be left out? Would you 
hear him, while he is extending his protection 
to bis redeemed church, say to 3'OU, ''I know 
you not wlience ye are; depart from me?" 

Rather accept of his mercy and his pardon- 
ing^ love, and become a part of his blood- 
bought church so that in that great day, when 
the invitation is given to come to the marriage 
supper of the Lamb, you shall be one of the 
happy number invited to the feast, — one of 
the number who shall share forever the love 
of the heavenly Bridegroom, and walk with 
him in white. 

Redeemed of the Loi'd, how exalted are 
your privileges. Great things have alread}^ 
been done for you. You have been ransomed 
from the pit, you have been made brothers and 
sisters of the Lord Jesus Christ, you have 
been made sons and daughters unto God, yea, 
more ; Christ hath espoused you unto himself 



IGir SCKIl'T'uKE E.-MBLK^rS OF GOD'S PEOPLE. 

US liisbriclc. Tlion rvrt tlie spouse of the only 
begotten Son of (;!o(l. Surely the Fatlier will 
look sweetly down upon the wife of his only 
begotten Son. Surely the Son of God, thy 
spiritual husband, will never fail in his cove- 
nant vows with thee. The new home to 
which the Bridegroom will lead thee will be 
all for beauty and coin fort that thou shalt ev- 
er need. No widows tears shall fall, no weeds 
of woe be worn in thy new home. 

It is a blessed thing to have Jesus for a 
Shepherd, for a Friend, for a Brother; but 
how is this blessedness increased when he lie- 
comes the Brideo-room and the church his 
bride. 

Prepare thj^self then for the festal hour. 
Put on the beautiful garments of salvation. 
Adorn thyself with the graces of the upper 
world. By the grace of God, prepare thyself 
as a bride adorned for her husband, for the 
Bridegroom will come, and blessed shall they 
be which are called unto the marriage supper 
of the Lamb. 



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